Shabnam Tavakoli

Tehran- Since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, Afghan women have been subjected to many rights violations. Afghan women have been excluded from all facets of life; they have been deprived of their right to education, banned from working in most sectors outside the home, entering amusement parks, public baths, gyms and sports clubs. Thousands of Afghans, who did not want to be under the Taliban rule, fled the country and faced many problems such as poverty, racism, violence and harassment on their routes to other countries.

Before the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, Afghans suffered from economic crisis, environmental disasters such as drought and poor living conditions for 20 years. However, their suffering doubled after the Taliban takeover. Afghanistan is among the poorest countries in the world. These factors caused thousands of Afghan people to migrate to Iran and Pakistan.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), there are approximately 3 million Afghan citizens in Iran as of January 2023. Since residence of Afghan refugees is prohibited in 15 provinces of Iran, Afghan refugees live in poor suburbs of big cities such as Tehran, Isfahan and Mashhad. Most Afghan refugees work as laborers in Iran.

The story of Shafiqa Badli

Shafiqa Badli (60) is one of the Afghan women refugees struggling to survive despite difficult living conditions. She lost her husband during the Soviet-Afghan War (1979-1989). “I was pregnant and my son was just two years old when my husband was killed in the Soviet-Afghan war. I raised my son and daughter alone. My son got married and had two children. However, the Taliban killed my son when his children were five and six years old. One of my grandchildren had a motorcycle accident. His ribs and leg were broken in the accident. He has platinum inside his leg now and cannot work.”

 Her son was killed by the Taliban

Speaking about the killing of her son, she said, “When the Taliban entered our city, they killed women and men. We had to leave the country after the Taliban killed my son. Now, I sell clothes at the Tehran metro. People tell me ‘go to your own country and work there’ and use bad language against me because I am a refugee. We live through difficult conditions in Iran.”

‘We have nowhere to go’

One day, Shafiqa Badli took her five-year-old grandson with her to the metro. “An Iranian woman beat my grandson when he sat next to her. I tried to stop her but she beat me.  We have a very difficult life but we have nowhere to go. Although we live through difficult conditions in Iran, we can find a piece of bread and have a cup of tea.”