111 Afghan Schoolgirls Escape Kabul Safely
The group of school girls flew out on Saturday night as they sought to flee the Taliban
After the fall of Kabul, the future of women in Afghanistan came into question. While the leaders of the Taliban have publicly claimed that the education of girls in the country would continue, world leaders voiced concern that the claims are just lip service. As the citizens of Afghanistan struggle to find their way under the new leadership, a group of 111 girls has left the country to escape what they fear has become an unsafe space for them, CBS News reports. The girls attended a special leadership school in Kabul which was sponsored by the government of Qatar.
The news outlet reports that the students arrived at the Al Udeid Air Base in Doha, Qatar and have been processed by local immigration. CBS News went on to say the State Department declined to comment on specific groups of evacuees but said, “we are working around the clock to maximize evacuations.”
This news comes as Afghani women have voiced their concerns about the continuing safety. “She’s only 23 years old, full of pain and anger,” journalist Masih Alinejad posted on twitter. “Please listen to her and be their voice.”
“20 years ago, when Taliban was in power, they raped women and killed innocent children,”
Alinejad wrote in a separate tweet. “We don’t want to go back to those years.”
President Biden said on Sunday that 11,000 people were evacuated from Kabul this weekend. Mr. Biden said the evacuation would be “hard and painful” no matter what and referred to “pain, loss, and heartbreaking images.”
Videos of desperate women and children have been posted on social media. “In this heart-rending video, a young Afghan girl crying and begging to U.S. forces to be let inside the airport,” journalist Ahmer Khan tweeted. “She says ‘Taliban is coming.’”
Last week Angelina Jolie joined Instagram to to voice her concern for the women of Afghanistan. “Right now, the people of Afghanistan are losing their ability to communicate on social media and to express themselves freely. So I’ve come on Instagram to share their stories and the voices of those across the globe who are fighting for their basic human rights,” she writes.
Afghans and Americans are still being evacuated from Kabul as the Taliban has seized control of the country. U.S. forces are in control of Kabul’s airport. Thousands of people have been lined up outside the airport to escape as military aircraft left the country. Meanwhile, the U.S. embassy in the capital city has told Americans not to travel to the airport and avoid airport gates because of ongoing security threats.
