Just days before Aug. 15 last year, I came to the US with a cohort of diverse young Afghan students to study for our graduate degrees in the US through the Fulbright program. All of us were in our mid-careers, coming from professional backgrounds in the media, NGOs, government, and the private sector. We already had our tailored career plans for Afghanistan in mind and were looking specifically to gain new skills in the US universities. Something that could enable us to work effectively in our professional fields once back. While figuring out our new student life here, the republic government in Afghanistan collapsed. Watching my country fall miles away was devastating and hurtful. I remember in one of our online meetings with cohort members, trying to mobilize an advocacy effort, everyone was shocked, anxious, and did not know what to do. Like thousands of other people in Afghanistan and the diaspora, our dreams had vanished.
At that time, it was difficult to navigate the next steps. Now, things are both clear and complex. Most countries are turning a blind eye to Afghanistan. Many have no clear policies, and some are treating it as a trivial issue. While Taliban on the contrary is implementing draconian laws, already formed a “gender apartheid regime”, and leading the country backward. In this situation, the only hope is Afghan youth, and activists in exile and inside Afghanistan. They need to connect and mobilize behind a clear vision for a “pluralistic Afghanistan” and be ready to engage because the Taliban are doomed to fail, and “there will be an Afghanistan after the Taliban”.
The current situation
The Taliban are playing triumph and victory over the crippled economy and the devasted humanitarian situation and injustices they created for the people in Afghanistan. The human rights situation has significantly eroded. Afghanistan is the only country in the world where girls do not have access to secondary school and women cannot travel without a male chaperone and are removed from public life. Individuals are prosecuted because of their beliefs and relation to a particular ethnic group or organization. Hazaras are forcefully evicted from their lands and killed.
Corruption, a major issue for the republic still prevails and is more endemic. The accountability and transparency over budgeting, revenue collection, expenditure, recruitment in civil services, court processes, and even distribution of humanitarian aid have died. There are dozens of reports on the Taliban’s misuse and abuse of humanitarian aid and the public budget. Almost 95% of the people in Afghanistan are not getting enough to eat. Nearly 900,000 Afghans lost their jobs and it is particularly affecting vulnerable communities like Hazaras.
Media are severely censored, and journalists are tortured, and imprisoned if not produced favorable reports. People are not able to speak up about the ongoing situation in the country fearing reprisal from the Taliban. Youth in Afghanistan, particularly those who studied abroad or considered to believe in democratic values are fired from their jobs in public institutions. Taliban are introducing new restrictive procedures for civil service, making it impossible for the professionals and technocrats except for the Taliban themselves to work within the public sector and even NGOs. The people are worst off and there is an urgent need for the Afghan youth and activists to mobilize and push for reforms.
Afghan youth mobilization challenges
The Afghan youth who believe in a pluralistic society inside the country fear reprisals and persecution. The Taliban arrested, imprisoned, tortured and forcibly disappeared women protestors and recently arrested an Afghan women activist, Zarifa Yaqubi with her four colleagues from west Kabul. Taliban also tortured an Afghan youth sharing the women protestors’ statement on his personal social media account. Since the Taliban takeover, there have been dozens of individuals were persecuted for expressing their thoughts online. There are barely any posts rejecting the authoritarian Taliban group from inside the country. People chose to practice self-censorship.
Those activists and youth who chose “civil disobedience” and live in exile are facing several challenges in their host countries including uncertain legal status, psychological trauma, and financial issues. Despite this, still many are trying to undertake advocacy. However, the most notable obstacle for all activists inside the country or in exile and diaspora is finding a common ground for cooperation.
The consequences of political divisions in Afghanistan can be felt among the Afghans in exile and diasporas. Afghan youth and activists in exile and diasporas are divided into ethnic lines and are yet to gather around the common goal of pluralistic Afghanistan. Some pro-Taliban individuals, holding foreign passports are running campaigns on social media and writing op-eds to normalize the terror and horrors of the Taliban. Many others chose to remain silent and only a few activists speak up. Looking at the Afghan social media users on Twitter and Facebook, these divisions often get severely toxic. Yet, there is hope the change can start specifically with the Afghan youth, in exile and diaspora.
Ways forward
A year of discussion with my cohort members who study in different U.S. universities and many other groups, taught me how difficult it is to discuss sensitive but important matters about the future of our country. Still there are numerous issues. However, the U.S. can provide support in facilitating discussions among Afghan activists in diaspora and exile and pave the way for practical steps inside Afghanistan.
Specifically, the U.S. can use the existing platforms like the U.S.-Afghan Consultative Mechanism, and Alliance for Afghan Women’s Economic Resilience to engage with the broader range of people and actors including civil society, religious leaders, and minority representatives from different communities in Afghanistan and outside and empower them. The past U.S. experiences showed that focusing only on specific NGOs or activists will fail the policies and objectives will not be reached.
At the same time, the U.S. can put further sanctions on the Taliban to limit their activities and pressure them to ease their draconian policies, respect human rights and engage in dialogue and concede to creating an inclusive federal democratic government. A government that will not only benefit the people in Afghanistan but the neighboring countries and the world. In this approach, the role of the U.S. and EU based think tanks and non-profit organizations interested in Afghanistan is crucial. These organizations and think tanks could facilitate difficult conversations on ethnic and linguistic politics and give the platform to Afghan youth, scholars, diaspora, and technocrats to come together, discuss on resentments and share policy solutions.
[Photo by Fars Media Corporation, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons]
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author.
Mahdi Surosh is a graduate student of global public policy at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities with a concentration in international security and human rights. He is a Fulbright scholarship recipient and previously worked with the Afghan media, non-profits, and the Afghan government.
