Several U.S. groups are assisting Afghan women trying to leave the country, including the New York-based nonprofit International Refugee Assistance Project. @AlsmadiFatima https://t.co/MJ1IPnXIah — @HameedMohdShah (@HameedMohdShah) August 17, 2021Many remain concerned about women’s rights under the Taliban, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head by Taliban gunmen in 2012 while demonstrating for women’s rights in Pakistan. Other Afghan women said their conservative families were already pressuring them to abandon their jobs and agree to arranged marriages. “They said for me that you must marry,” said Samira, a women’s rights activist who asked to be identified by her first name because of security concerns. “Afghan women need support,” she said, otherwise “all the values of the last two decades will be destroyed and all the losses will be on women.”

Source: Los Angeles Times August 18, 2021 02:54 UTC