RAWA Statement Three Years After Taliban Takeover

The Taliban, as a sinister and regressive force, knew from the outset that the seeds of suicide bombings, terrorism, and superstition could only take root in a society that is impoverished, destitute, and steeped in ignorance. Driven by religious fascism, these criminals first attacked freedom and women, aiming to paralyze the most oppressed half of society by depriving them of education, knowledge, and opportunities, and imprisoning women in their homes. Yet, Afghan women, with their inspiring resilience and defiance against this medieval, U.S.-backed regime, have shown that they have reached a level of awareness that no force can turn back the clock or drag them back into darkness.

Three years of suffocating, oppressive, and hellish rule by the “CIA” and “ISI”-trained Taliban marks the darkest period in our history.

During this time, every effort was made to eradicate all elements of a humane society, including science, art, knowledge, and life itself. The brave women who stood up against them faced lashings, imprisonment, torture, forced confessions, sexual assault, and even death. Yet, our courageous women have not forgiven the Taliban for the blood of Forouzan, Arzu, Negar and many others—those killed by the Taliban—and they continue to raise their voices for justice in every corner of our land, showing the world, which has largely forgotten their suffering, that they will not surrender to injustice, ignorance, and oppression.

Vile spies like Zalmay Khalilzad, Hamid Karzai, Rina Amiri, and UNAMA, along with others, have enlisted a group of corrupt male and female lobbyists to try to prop up the detested Taliban regime. However, the leaders of this reactionary and savage group are so deeply mired in corruption and moral decay—each striving to accumulate wealth and secure multiple marriages—that they only intensify the anger and disgust of a population trapped in poverty, unemployment, and despair with each passing day.

The fugitive separatist jihadists and corrupt republican figures, who are the root cause of our nation’s current suffering due to years of corruption, looting, betrayal, and selling out the country, now grovel before the U.S. and the West, hoping to transform the Islamic Emirate into an “inclusive” regime that would allow them to reclaim seats of power alongside their Taliban brothers. For our beleaguered masses, the Taliban, jihadists, and republican leaders are all cut from the same cloth, and these scoundrels will take their dreams of once again ruling our people to their graves.

The rise and rule of the Taliban Emirate is a bitter joke of colonialism and history at the expense of our land, but their masters will not be able to keep these pawns in power for long. Our people, like others around the world, cherish freedom, justice, and democracy, and they cannot be deprived of these fundamental values indefinitely. The oppressed people of our nation, inspired by the courage of Afghan women and the resistance of other subjugated nations against imperialism and Islamic fundamentalism, will rise up, and when they do, even billions of dollars worth of U.S. military aid will not save the Taliban from the storm of a unified and determined nation’s wrath.

Sisters, only through struggle can we liberate ourselves from the grip of oppression and violence!

Long live the struggle for democracy and against the Taliban’s religious fascism!