A Dream Delayed
Photo Courtesy of Sohaib Ghyasi
The first day that the Taliban regained control of the city, they came into her office and questioned her about her role as an officer. Most of the other members of her team had already fled that morning and she was left to face the Taliban alone…
Ayesha* is an intelligent, compassionate young woman eager to achieve and do what she can to serve others. Until recently she lived in Afghanistan with her parents and several adult siblings. Ayesha worked for the Afghan government and was a part of the first generation of young women who stepped into leadership in the wake of the fall of the Taliban. After graduating from university, she participated in an internship sponsored by a Western entity. A bright future awaited her as she prepared to pursue a master’s degree outside of Afghanistan. Unexpectedly the Taliban regained power in 2021, an event that changed everything. Her dreams would have to wait as she and her family fought to survive.
The first day that the Taliban regained control of the city, they came into her office and questioned her about her role as an officer. Most of the other members of her team had already fled that morning and she was left to face the Taliban alone. They reprimanded her for her involvement in the government and accused her of violating Islamic law, telling her that they would return and “deal with her soon”. She was able to sneak away, delete her home address out of the database, and go into hiding with the rest of her family.
As a member of an ethnic group that historically has resisted the Taliban, her entire family was at great risk. In the past, the Taliban has been known to search out her people for retaliation. The family was also in jeopardy because of their professions. Many years ago, Ayesha’s father, a retired officer in the Afghan military, was shot by the Taliban along with his brother. He survived, but tragically, his brother was killed. Other members of her family were employed as female journalists, teachers in girls’ & boys’ schools, and officers in various other government agencies.
While in hiding, Taliban soldiers patrolling the neighborhood would regularly show up at their home and demand to be fed. Her father, being a kind elderly gentleman, would go out and bring them food, diverting their suspicions away from the rest of the family. All his daughters, including Ayesha, are unmarried and at risk of abduction and forced marriage to Taliban fighters.
Project Alpha was able to guide Ayesha and her family on a perilous journey through numerous Taliban checkpoints and then safely across the border. Several members of her family were detained temporarily and at one point her brother was beaten. Since being in the safehouse, Ayesha has received word from coworkers that on the first day of returning to work, the Taliban came looking for her. They interrogated her friends, seeking her whereabouts as well as the names of her family and friends. Her friends claimed ignorance and said they heard she had left the country.
Despite these hardships, Ayesha and her family are incredibly kind and compassionate to those around them. They volunteered to assist with the classes being taught in the safehouse and have taken two children under their wing. The two toddlers who live in the room next to them lost both their parents in the ISIS bomb attack at the Kabul airport during the evacuation. The children spend many hours with their ‘adopted’ family, being cared for during these unimaginably painful days.
Ayesha uses this long period of waiting to care for others and help the children keep up with their schooling, so they are ready to resume classes in their new homeland. With the help of Project Alpha, her own hopes for the future remain intact.
*Name changed for security reasons.