Women’s rights activist Mursal Sayas recounts her exile from Afghanistan, three years after the return of the Taliban

On August 15, 2021, the Taliban entered Kabul, Afghanistan, without resistance. Activist Mursal Sayas testifies on franceinfo.

Three years ago to the day, on August 15, 2021, the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan, an anniversary celebrated in grand style on Wednesday with a military parade. Once at the head of the country, they were quick to apply Islamic law in an ultra-rigorous manner, multiplying liberticidal measures against women. They are now totally isolated and excluded from public space. After the arrival of the Taliban, hundreds of thousands of people left the country. This is the case of Mursal Sayas, a human rights activist, who took refuge in France where she has lived in Paris for three years.

Mursal Sayas has a beaming face, but a sad look. Leaving Afghanistan was the most difficult choice of her life, but necessary for the women’s rights activist. “Today it is so hard for women, they cannot go out. The Taliban force them to marry: girls, teenagers, widows. Divorced women have to go back to live with their violent ex-husbands.recalls Mursal Sayas. For me, it was essential to live free, not to be arrested or tortured by this government that applies gender apartheid.”

Divorced, the 29-year-old activist leaves behind her 8-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter, as the law prohibits them from leaving their father and their country. Mursal, who speaks to them every day via WhatsApp, cannot help but notice the inequalities between her two children. “What my son is learning at school is so misogynistic, she gets indignant. My daughter is only 5 years old and she already knows that she won’t be able to go to school in a few years if the Taliban are still there. She tells me: ‘I’m a girl, I don’t have the right’,
and it breaks my heart. This is the future generation and this is how they live in Afghanistan.”

Journalist and writer Mursal Sayas continues to campaign for women’s rights in Afghanistan from France. But three years after her departure, she is losing patience: “I am angry with the international community that sees what is happening in Afghanistan and does nothing. They say they support Afghan women, but they meet the Taliban at the UN summit in Doha. Who will hear our cries? asks Mursal Sayas in her book, which gives voice to ten Afghan women. “Don’t forget us”she insists.