BY THE NUMBERS

Number of Afghan women refugees admitted by Arizona State University for Spring 2022: 61

Number of Afghan refugees admitted by Bard College (New York) in 2022: 80

Number of grants between $2,000 and $5,000 awarded by the Institute of International Education (IIE) to help Afghan refugees attend college in the U.S.:100

Month and year President Biden announced the U.S. withrawl from Afghanistan: August, 2021

Month and year that the Asian University for Women (Bangladesh) first saw a dramatic increase in the number of applicants from Afghan women refugees: August, 2021

The number of Afghan refugees (mostly women) enrolled in American University of Central Asia in Kyrgyzstan: 300

Number of applications from Afghan women received by the online University of the People (UoPeople) immediately after the Taliban banned women from college: 5,000

Number of $1,200 scholarships UoPeople awarded to Afghans women who lost access to higher education. 2,000

Average monthly household income among “food-secure” families in Kabul (families that can afford 3 meals a day): $250

The median monthly household income across all families in Kabul: $80

Typical monthly cost of phone-based internet access: $12

Average number of hours of electricity a day for a household in Kabul: 4

Percentage of household income that the average participant in our summer Journalism class spent on three Zooms a week and doing on-line assignments: 23%

We Must Do More. We Must Do Better.

by Sayed Erfan Nabizada

Secondary education. Higher education. Work. Parks. What will the Taliban take from women next?

When the Taliban re-established The Emirate of Afghanistan, they promised that they would adopt a more moderate stance towards women’s rights. They said women could go to school and hold jobs in the government and the private sector.

These were nothing more than broken promises and lies.

It is easy to conclude that Afghanistan under the Taliban is a failed state. Infrastructure is broken. The economy has crashed. Fear and insecurity have grown as torture and false imprisonment have become more common. People are leaving the country in droves and seeking refuge in other countries.

The truth is: Afghanistan is worse than a “failed state” The Taliban “government” is no more than a loosely connected network of local “leaders” making their own policies based on their own faulty interpretation of Sharia law. These local jurisdictions only have one thing in common; they systematically deprive women of their rights.

It is easy to assume that Islam, unchecked by Western influence, is hostile towards women’s rights.

This, too, is false- absolutely false.

In Islam, women, like men, are obligated to pursue knowledge. In the Quran, Allah orders both men and women to increase their knowledge and condemns those who are not learning. The Qur’an puts significant importance on seeking knowledge, and encouraging education for all.

As we approach one year since Afghan girls were banned from secondary school, millions feel helpless and uncertain about their futures.

Will Afghan women be erased entirely from the public sphere?

Does the U.N. need a name for such a systematic, brutal purge before it can act?

The world’s silence...America’s silence...our silence is shameful.

We must do more. We must do better.