Every month since the Taliban came back in force, bad news has come to us from Afghanistan: women are no longer allowed to go to school, they have lost the right to go out without a man present, they no longer have the right to work… Their freedom is eroded a little more each day. Result: the Taliban have completely excluded them from public life.
Small departure from the nature of this section this week: the book we are talking about is not an essay, it is a testimony.
A unique and precious testimony to the life of Afghan women, told from the inside, which cannot leave you indifferent.
Written with four hands, those of the Afghan activist Khatera Amine and the journalist Maurine Bajac, I am writing to you from Kabul… is a moving book.
Khatera Amine’s courage is staggering. It was she who initially contacted Maurine Bajac. The young woman sent messages to several Western journalists in the hope of attracting attention and obtaining at least a response. She succeeded. His message caught the attention of Maurine Bajac.
Khatera is revolted. She wants to tell her daily life since the return in force of the Taliban, in August 2021, when the Western soldiers, including those of Canada, left the country.
A prisoner in Kabul with her parents and her younger sister, Khatera has another sister who lives in the United States and an older brother who is an engineer who managed to escape thanks to his status as an employee of a foreign company. Khatera and her parents tried twice to follow him, in vain.
The young 28-year-old Afghan, lit and involved, campaigns for women’s rights. She comes from an educated and progressive family. Her mother is a journalist. Khatera does not give up, she wants to fight for her rights and those of her sisters, at the risk of her life. She tells her French correspondent about a daily life full of obstacles, fear and danger. And despite this, despite the heaviness and the constant threat of getting caught, Khatera also recounts lighter moments, talks about music, culture (she admits to having a weakness for Johnny Hallyday!). A way of reminding us that life was once “normal” in Afghanistan and that its inhabitants aspire, for the most part, to the same thing as us.
Not only is Khatera determined to fight, but she has a plan. She goes to meet fathers and offers to give cooking lessons to their daughters.
In reality, she will not show them how to make bread. Rather, it will teach them to read and write. We take it so much for granted in the West, but education is freedom.
By this act of subversion, Khatera demonstrates immense courage. If she is caught, she risks being executed. We don’t mess with the Taliban…
6000 kilometers away, Maurine Bajac receives this important testimony. The young woman is not an international reporter, but she covered the arrival of a flight with fleeing Afghans on board.
It’s a bit of a coincidence that she replies to Khatera’s message. But the two young women are practically the same age and a bond of trust is quickly established between them, even if the contrast between their two lives is striking.
The young Frenchwoman has agreed to be the spokesperson for these women who are afraid of being forgotten. Let’s not confirm their worst fear. This book is a vibrant plea for freedom. It should overcome our indifference.
Extract
“A bond is forged between us, at this moment, as strong as it is unexpected. I’m sure she feels it, too. This link, I want to seize it as much as I dread it. Because at any time it can break. If the Taliban find her, one bullet can take it all away. His ideas, his passion, his irreverence. She lives with this risk since her birth, I discover it through her. Khatera wakes me up. It ignites an urgency in me: it must be heard. That we can’t forget it. Neither she, Khatera Amine, nor any of the young girls of this country, forced to keep quiet to survive. »
Who are Khatera Amine and Maurine Bajac?
- Khatera Amine held a government job until the Taliban took power. She is an activist for women’s rights in Afghanistan.
- Maurine Bajac is a journalist for the TF1 and LCI channels.
I am writing to you from Kabul
Albin Michael
295 pages