Having experienced the Taliban’s brutal force firsthand, Malala Yousafzai is also skeptical that the group will govern any differently now. “Like many women, I fear for my Afghan sisters,” she wrote in an essay for Times Opinion. In recent years, women have been able to study and work. “I cannot imagine losing it all — going back to a life defined for me by men with guns.”
For this reason, Yousafzai urges those watching this crisis unfold to focus on what matters most. “We will have time to debate what went wrong in the war in Afghanistan, but in this critical moment we must listen to the voices of Afghan women and girls. They are asking for protection, for education, for the freedom and the future they were promised. We cannot continue to fail them. We have no time to spare.”
— Jennifer Brown