One year after Taliban takeover: The Afghan women who don't give up

16-YEAR-OLD KERISHMA RASHEEDI:

Kerishma Rasheedi, 16, was a proud 9th-grade high school student before the Taliban swept to power in August last year. She hasn’t been able to go back to school since.

In March the Taliban backtracked on their announcement that high schools would open for girls, saying they would remain closed until a plan was drawn up in accordance with Islamic law for them to reopen. The last time the Taliban ruled Afghanistan, from 1996 to 2001, they banned education and most employment for women.

Rasheedi refused to give up. To keep up with her studies, she now attends classes at a private education centre for girls, hoping that one day, she can return to school and pursue her dream of becoming a journalist.

“I want to become a successful journalist in the future, I would love to serve my country, and education is my basic human right. I want to continue my education so I can convey the miseries of other women to the authorities," she said.

The private education centre, opened nearly seven months ago, offers classes of math, English and Dari literature for women of different ages and levels.

The Taliban has allowed a few private education centres for women to open as long as they had obtained permission from the justice ministry.

Every day, Rasheedi and her 14-year-old sister, who also cannot go to school, spend two hours studying at the centre.

"My message to the Taliban is to reopen schools for girls as soon as possible...we want to study.”

WOMEN'S RIGHTS ACTIVIST MONESA MUBAREZ:

Monesa Mubarez has been at the forefront of Afghan women’s fight for their rights since the Taliban took over the country in August last year.

The 31-year-old, with a master’s degree in international relations, used to work for the finance ministry, and lost her job when the militant regime seized power.

Since then, Mubarez has devoted herself to activism, having organised 17 street protests so far.

The Taliban seized power for a second time in Afghanistan last August as international forces backing a pro-Western government pulled out.

Critics say women's rights have since been undermined with new curbs on their clothes, movement and education, despite vows made to the contrary by the Taliban earlier.

“We’ll raise our voices against every injustice until our last breath, we will stand against all the tyranny imposed by the Taliban on the people of Afghanistan, especially on women of Afghanistan,” Mubarez declared at a protest against a new Taliban decree in May, requiring Afghan women to cover their faces.

At least once a week, Mubarez and around 10 other like-minded women would meet up, ironing out plans for their next protest or working out strategies to promote their cause on social media.

“What we want is justice, freedom, and equality only, every respectful media outlet knows that our slogans are based on food, job, and freedom, and all these are the basic rights of every citizen,” said Mubarez, at one of their meetings at her house, where the women made plans for a rally marking one year since the Taliban takeover.

Their activism is not without risks, especially in the beginning of the Taliban’s rule, but Mubarez vowed to fight until “justice has been achieved”.

“It is natural that all of these (protesting women) have experienced threats in various ways, we still receive threatening calls (from the Taliban),” she said. “If one of us gets killed, there will be others who will raise their voices.”

FORMER POLICE OFFICER WHO IS NOW CLEANING HOUSES, GULESTAN SAFARI:

Gulestan Safari, 45, loved her job as a police officer.

Despite losing her husband to cancer two years ago, Safari was a happy mother and grandparent.

Now she cleans houses to provide for a household of five.

Safari lost her job when the hardline Islamist Taliban movement seized power in August last year.

There used to be more than 20,000 women police officers in Afghanistan, most of whom were sacked by the Taliban. Only a fraction was retained to manage women’s prisons.

“My job was so valuable for me, I loved my job, we were so happy, but when the Taliban came, they did not allow us to go to work,” said Safari.

With Afghanistan's economy deep in crisis - billions of dollars in aid and reserves have been cut off and ordinary people have little money for their necessities – Safari and her family are struggling to make ends meet.

She used to have a monthly salary of 12,000 Afghani ($132), now she makes $3 or $4 on a good day.

“I usually work from 8 a.m. till 4 p.m., it’s a really boring job, but I have no other choices, no other income, we die if I don’t work,” said Safari.

Safari’s son, who was also a police officer, went to Iran to look for work five months ago, when he decided he couldn’t support his family with a salary that had been cut by half. But he hasn’t been heard from since.

That left Safari as the sole breadwinner of the house, supporting her 15-year-old daughter, her daughter-in-law, who is a housewife and two toddler grandsons.

After paying $55 for rent, they barely have much left.

“In the past I could buy rice, meat, oil, but now I cannot afford to buy anything anymore. I borrowed some money from my neighbours to buy these vegetables. Now everything is so expensive, we cannot afford to buy much,” she said.

With her uniform taken away by the Taliban, and photos of her at duty burnt by the family out of fear, the only momento Safari has left of her six-year-long career in the police force, were the work certificates she managed to hide away.

“We are tired of this situation, how long do we have to suffer like this? How long should women sit in their houses?”