Since their August 2021 takeover of Afghanistan, the Taliban have utilized rape and forced marriage to terrorize Afghan women. While the Taliban deny the evidence of such claims, two Afghan teenagers who recently escaped Taliban captivity shed light on the group’s evil.
The teenagers provided statements to Leslie Merriman, an American volunteer coordinating their care. With the girls’ permission, Merriman then provided their stories to me. Both girls’ names have been changed to protect their identities.
Fereshta was walking outside her home in Parwan province on July 20 when a military car with four Talibs pulled up beside her. The Talibs began asking questions in Pashto, but as a Dari-speaking member of the Tajik minority, Fereshta could not understand them. After informing the Talibs she was Tajik, Fereshta said the men dragged her into the car. They punched and slapped her, covering her eyes so that she could not see the location of the home that would be their destination. After six days, one of the Talibs brought a Dari-speaking religious leader to the home. Fereshta said he asked her if she consented to marry the Talib. When she told the religious leader that she had been kidnapped, Fereshta said the religious leader and the Talib began to argue in Pashto. Fereshta heard gunfire and never saw the religious leader again.
For the next five weeks, Fereshta said she was raped every night by multiple Talibs until her “body was covered in blood.” During the day, Fereshta’s hands were tied. A woman living in the house where she was held captive provided food and water. On Sept. 7, that woman unbound Fereshta, gave her money and clothes, and walked her to a nearby street. The taxi driver who picked up Fereshta pretended to be her father at Taliban checkpoints as he ferried her to a hospital.
Anisa left her home in Kapisa province on Aug. 2 to get water from the creek when two gun-wielding Talibs spoke to her in Pashto. When Tajik Anisa asked them to speak in Dari, the men “grabbed [her], tied [her] hands and feet,” and eventually put a bag over her head and a cloth in her mouth to muffle her screams. Anisa said neighbors attempted to intervene. Though guns were fired in the ensuing scuffle, Fereshta could not tell if anyone was injured. For the next 20 days, Anisa was raped daily by her captors. She said “one of the worst things [she] saw” in the place where she was kept was the large quantity of girls’ clothing she believes belonged to her rapists’ prior victims. When Anisa’s father and neighbors discovered where she was being held, they killed one of her rapists. The other man fled.
Anisa’s family could not afford to pay for care at a private hospital, and she feared visiting one of the government hospitals under Taliban control. At a free mobile clinic funded by U.S. nonprofit group Flanders Fields, Anisa received medicine — and hope. When Merriman, who coordinated the clinic, learned about Anisa’s struggles, she moved Anisa to a safe house and began raising funds for her medical needs. Shortly thereafter, a local doctor put Fereshta in contact with Merriman. Now, Merriman’s team of doctors is assisting the girls, both of whom were in the early stages of pregnancy after escaping their captors. Merriman told social media followers the girls are together and “are happy because they know they aren’t alone.”
The international community should demand accountability for survivors like Fereshta and Anisa in honor of the untold numbers of other Afghan girls still suffering from Taliban barbarity.
Beth Bailey (@BWBailey85) is a freelance writer from the Detroit area.
