The women of Afghanistan went from existence-from being part of society, from working, from being part of every aspect of life as doctors, judges, nurses, engineers, women running offices-to nothing. As I saw the democracy that we worked so hard for over the last 20 years disappear, it was also the work that we did as Afghan women for our country disappearing at the same time. The lives of Afghan women have changed 180 degrees. I wanted to stay and remind everyone that, like everything else in history, this too shall pass. I am 74 years old I’ve seen beauty and disasters, achievements and destruction, and everything in between. In my life, I have also always wanted to be a witness-a lot of Afghanistan’s history happened in front of my eyes. I thought my presence would give them strength-that is why I decided to stay I decided not to be a refugee again. I felt it was not time to leave Afghanistan, to leave my sisters, to leave everyone I loved and cared about. This time, it was different-now, I am an Afghan American citizen. I was young, I had a lot of energy and I wanted to stay in Afghanistan but because of the forces that came to power I had to leave. I was forced once in my life to leave my country, in 1978. The first thought I had in mind was what is going to happen to the women of Afghanistan? What were we going to do? 15 August was the day the women of Afghanistan started to become non-human, the day when we knew there was no place for women’s rights anywhere anymore. It was all happening in front of my eyes: in 24 hours a democracy we worked for for 20 years crumbled. Afghanistan was turning into chaos-people were running everywhere offices were closing. The first nights and days were especially horrible. I witnessed everything from the minute it happened. On 15 August 2021, I was in Afghanistan, in my office.
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