Activist who survived Taliban university attack tells Afghan women: 'Don't lose hope'

As It Happens6:50Activist who survived Taliban university attack tells Afghan women: 'Don't lose hope'

As young women are being turned away from their universities in Afghanistan, Sveto Muhammad Ishoq says she knows exactly how they feel.

Ishoq was a student at the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul in 2016 when Taliban insurgents attacked. Thirteen people, including seven students, were killed. The school was closed for eight months, and Ishoq's dreams of higher education were put on the back burner.

Today, the Taliban holds power in Afghanistan. On Tuesday, they banned women from post-secondary education. The move has drawn international condemnation from world leaders and human rights organizations. 

Ishoq was eventually able to fulfil her dreams. She travelled abroad to continue her education. Earlier this month, she received her second master's degree in gender, development and globalization from the London School of Economics. 

Ishoq is the founder of the Chadari Project, an Afghan women's rights organization. She spoke to As It Happens host Nil Köksal on Tuesday. Here is part of their conversation.

First of all, congratulations on getting your master's. That's a huge achievement.

Thank you so much.

How do you balance the well-deserved celebrations with the news we're hearing?

Honestly, I feel privileged to be able to pursue ... my second master's degree. But also I'm very heartbroken hearing today's news. It's very difficult. It's very challenging. It's heartbreaking. There's no other words that I can say.

I understand that some students in Afghanistan are writing their end-of-year exams right now, actually. And you've been speaking with some of them. What are they telling you?

Three months ago, the girls were sitting [for] the university entrance exam.... Despite the Taliban regime banning girls from getting secondary education, there was some hope that they will ... be able continue their university studies. And now it's banned. It's completely banned. It's completely heartbreaking.

And when I speak to them ... they're just crying and they just are losing hope.

I don't know if there can be any explanation for a move like this, but what is being said? What is the Taliban saying?

They issued a decree by the Ministry of Higher Education.

[They are saying] the same excuses that they were saying when they banned girls from going to secondary education in most of the provinces. And today actually is the [458th] day that the girls are not allowed to go to secondary education.

The excuses … [went] from the school curriculum to the school uniforms. And those are all excuses because we all know how … in the secondary school, the girls are already wearing the clothes that are compliant with Islam. And ... there are Islamic teachings there as well.

They are using that Islam to kind of justify all these restrictions [that] are completely against the Islamic teachings. That is how the Afghan women and girls are being erased from public sphere to private sphere. And we know in our Islamic history, women played a key role in the public sphere.

In Islam, we have women leaders who were businesswomen, who were leaders in their communities and who founded universities. The first university actually in the world was founded by Muslim women.

Even before this latest move, the international community [and] foreign governments have been saying they need to see a change in the Taliban's policy on women's education before they'll recognize it as a legitimate government. Do you see that diplomatic pressure could have any effect here?

Definitely. I think the world has the power and the tools to do that.

What are people there doing to push back? Are they pushing back?

They are protesting on the streets. And there are many social organizations that are trying to fill the gap of education by creating secret schools and creating online education.

Both the Afghans inside Afghanistan and [the] Afghan diaspora tried hard to help however they can. But, obviously, we just need support.

In 2016, your school was attacked by Taliban fighters. It was shut down for months. But you persevered, you kept studying and went abroad. But that must stay with you, that experience.

It was one of the hardest experiences of my life. And that's why I can feel the pain of these women and girls who have become deprived of education, of their basic human rights.

What do you say to a young woman in Afghanistan who is afraid? Afraid for her future? Feeling hopeless? What do you want to say to her and the women of Afghanistan?

I just want to say: don't give up. Don't give up and never lose hope.

Hope is the only thing that we Afghans have learned to have. To stay resilient despite the challenges. More than four decades of war have taught us how to be resilient and how to have hope despite all the adversity.

We are with them. We will find solutions to give them their basic human rights and provide them with education.

I'm very proud of them. That's something that I want to say, because despite all the challenges or the problems that they are facing, they are trying hard to study even at home.