Tahmina celebrates its 4th Anniversary with a blog series called, “In Their Own Words,” featuring stories from the everyday people who are still living under Taliban rule in Afghanistan. Names have been changed or redacted for security, and the views expressed in these pieces are the author's own and do not reflect the views of Tahmina Tea.   

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Hello from Afghanistan,

I am Nazanin, a 19-year-old Afghan girl. I was born and raised in a small village in Bamyan province of Afghanistan called D____. I heard about the Taliban so many times when I was little. My mom shared with me stories about how the Taliban treated people in Afghanistan. The understanding I had of the Taliban was very shallow at a young age, but as I grew up I understood how horrific they were. When I was 10 years old I heard the loud sound of a bomb in Kabul, a Taliban attack. Afterwards there were more attacks that I witnessed in schools, hospitals and mosques, which resulted in hundreds of deaths each day.

A few months ago, while I was in class our educational center exploded and we lost over hundreds of beautiful souls. I was very depressed afterwards. I lost hope for my country and my future. I felt like there was no possible way for Afghanistan to be in peace. After some time I decided I wanted to be an advocate for change in Afghanistan. I began an organization that is a community of more than 500 people currently. I was organizing discussions on Zoom to inspire other youth in Afghanistan to not lose faith in having a prosperous Afghanistan in the future.

Then everything changed in a day. August 15th 2021 was the beginning of a nightmare. The Taliban took over my country once again. Our president and politicians escaped the country and I woke up to a speech by the head of the Taliban celebrating their victory.

Now girls have no say in society. We cannot go to school and receive education. You cannot even see a single girl on the street. It is like traveling back in time for me; we are experiencing everything all over again from the previous regime. My whole nation is going through a real disaster. These are dark times and again we are experiencing hopelessness. Does the world see us? 

I am searching for light in this dark time. I desire for people around the world to speak up and show their support. We want nothing but to live, be educated and to be free. To the wonderful person reading this, this is not to say how miserable my life is, there is still a lot to be grateful for in my life because I am still alive and I want to let the world know what is going on in Afghanistan. My mission is to help my people find their way back to hope. Please, become a voice for the voiceless people in Afghanistan.