The Media Line: ‘I’m Still Trapped in August 2021’: Afghan Women in Exile Share Haunting Memories With The Media Line 

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‘I’m Still Trapped in August 2021’: Afghan Women in Exile Share Haunting Memories With The Media Line 

Afghan women who fled Taliban rule describe trauma, loss, and fear as they struggle for recognition abroad 

By Arshad Mehmood / The Media Line 

[Islamabad] As Afghanistan enters its fourth year under Taliban rule, Afghan women forced into exile say their lives remain overshadowed by fear, loss, and abandonment. Speaking exclusively to The Media Line, refugees describe a double burden—persecuted at home, but unwelcome abroad—while aid workers and rights advocates warn that their plight is slipping from the world’s conscience. 

The Taliban seized power on August 15, 2021, after US-led forces withdrew following two decades of war. The group’s swift advance into Kabul led to the collapse of US-backed security forces and the flight of then-President Ashraf Ghani. In the chaos, thousands rushed to the airport seeking evacuation, but many were left behind as the Taliban reestablished control. 

Since returning to power, the Taliban has imposed sweeping restrictions on women’s rights, citing its interpretation of Islamic law. The group has banned most women from working with aid agencies, shut beauty salons, limited women’s access to public spaces such as parks, and prohibited travel without a male guardian. Most consequentially, it has barred girls above the sixth grade from attending school. According to UN estimates, 2.2 million Afghan girls are currently denied education, with projections that the number could double by 2030 if restrictions persist. 

The impact on Afghan society has been severe. Women who once held professional jobs have been pushed into domestic work, and many families, stripped of income and rights, have fled abroad. The UN reports that millions of Afghans have left since the takeover, most of them women and children. Many now live in neighboring Iran and Pakistan, where they face discrimination, legal barriers, and the constant threat of deportation. 

Forced migration has become a desperate act of survival. Families leave behind homes and communities to pursue education and safety for their children. But in exile, women often find themselves confined once again, marginalized by host governments and ignored by the international community. 

“The world talks about human rights in Afghanistan, but for us, it feels like we’ve been left to vanish quietly,” said Mariam Sadat, a women’s rights advocate who spoke to The Media Line. 

Sadat recalled the day Kabul fell as if time had stopped. She was among the desperate crowds pushing toward the airport gates, hoping to board a US evacuation flight. But a suicide bombing at the entrance ended that dream. 

“It feels like I never escaped August 2021. I’m still there—trapped in that month. Every day since has been the same August repeating itself,” she said. “The memories come back in rubbles, bodies crushed against mine, the deafening chaos of gunfire, and the haunting image of people collapsing, shot down only steps away.” 

For Sadat, exile has not lifted the trauma of that day. Instead, it has become a prison she carries with her, a reminder of the life she lost and the uncertain path ahead. 

Shumaila Karimi, another Afghan woman interviewed by The Media Line, holds a bachelor’s degree in economics. She said she was beaten during anti-Taliban protests, while her twin sisters—football players—were also targeted. Facing reprisals, the family fled to Iran before relocating to Pakistan. 

“With immense fear and anxiety, my family and I managed to reach Iran. With no institution or organization in Iran listening to our voices—and even the United Nations remaining unresponsive—we once again, full of worry and uncertainty, made our way to Pakistan on a friend’s advice,” Karimi said. 

“Unfortunately, we lost our father here. We are currently living in the same uncertainty, hopelessness, and constant fear of being deported. Exile has not brought freedom for us—it has brought another kind of confinement, marked by poverty, fear, and endless waiting.” 

Maryam, a 26-year-old university graduate from Kabul, once led student demonstrations and sang revolutionary songs. Today she lives in hiding in Pakistan. 

“I had one small suitcase,” she told The Media Line. “I left behind my books, my friends, my parents. I left my voice. Here, I live like a shadow, afraid of the police, afraid of deportation. In Afghanistan, the Taliban tried to erase us. In exile, the world has forgotten us.” 

Aid Efforts and Neglected Crises 

Aid workers warn that Afghan women in exile have faded from global attention. Their struggle has shifted from education and professional aspirations to survival. Advocates argue for expanded resettlement programs, legal protections in host countries, and stronger international pressure on the Taliban. 

“These women are trapped in a double bind—persecuted in Afghanistan, but unwelcome in exile. Their suffering is invisible because the world has moved on,” Ahmad Reshad Attai, a human rights researcher based in Geneva, told The Media Line. 

Rebecca Trotter, executive director of Food for Thought Afghanistan, a nongovernmental organization in Minnesota, told The Media Line her group recently relocated 60 Afghan women and their families from Islamabad to Brazil. 

“These women were on the verge of being handed back to the Taliban, where their fate would have been sealed with death sentences,” Trotter said. “We gave them hope where there was only despair—this was far more than a rescue mission.” 

Trotter stressed that her organization continues to advocate for Afghan women stranded in Iran and Pakistan, many of whom remain without legal status and at constant risk of harassment, exploitation, and deportation. 

The International Dilemma 

Western governments face difficult choices over how to deal with the Taliban. Jordan Kane, a Washington-based expert on fragile states, told The Media Line that aid remains one of the few levers of influence. Yet cutting aid to pressure the Taliban could worsen the crisis. 

“Aid cuts by the US and other donors may weaken the Taliban’s grip on power,” Kane said, “but only at a truly awful human cost.” She warned that ordinary Afghans—especially women and children—bear the brunt of food shortages, poverty, and failing public services. 

Kane added that aid diversion by the Taliban to its fighters is troubling, but not unprecedented. “It’s not clear to me that the problem is worse than in other similar contexts, such as with the Houthis in Yemen,” she said. 

Afghanistan’s Future 

The Taliban’s grip on Afghanistan is also raising questions about the country’s long-term stability. Najeeb Azad, a political analyst in Wisconsin and former spokesperson for ex-President Ashraf Ghani, told The Media Line that the last four years have left Afghanistan’s younger generation deeply unprepared for the global economy. 

He argued that the West has often prioritized strategic interests over Afghan human rights. Afghanistan, he said, has been pulled into conflict twice in less than a decade largely due to external agendas. 

Azad also questioned the durability of Taliban rule, noting that stronger regimes elsewhere have collapsed within decades. “The Taliban’s rule is unlikely to endure unless the United States and its allies choose to sustain it for geopolitical purposes—a choice increasingly at odds with realities on the ground,” he said. 

He warned that Afghanistan’s instability remains linked to broader regional tensions, including unrest in Iran and Pakistan, and could foster larger proxy threats in years to come. 

A Forgotten Struggle 

For women like Sadat, Karimi, and Maryam, the geopolitical debates matter less than the daily struggle to survive in exile. Their stories reflect a generation caught between two worlds: the Afghanistan they lost and the uncertain refuge they now endure. 

They continue to plead for recognition, education, and safety—hopes that remain elusive as the world’s attention drifts elsewhere.