Former Afghan ambassador to the U.S. fears for women’s rights as Taliban takes over: 'I feel hopeless'

Stephen Proctor
·2 min read

Roya Rahmani, the former Afghanistan ambassador to the U.S., appeared Sunday on The Mehdi Hasan Show, where she spoke about the deteriorating conditions in the country. As the U.S. moves forward with plans to pull all troops out, the Taliban continues to surge, seizing major cities.

“I feel betrayed. I feel a loss. I feel hopeless. I feel very disappointed,” Rahmani said. “Most importantly, it's just hard to pull it together and collect your trust again. That's how I feel.”

Rahmani, the first female Afghan ambassador to the U.S., said that as the Taliban seizes power, women are the most vulnerable, and fears that the rights women have enjoyed under U.S. presence may now be taken away. Rahmani believes, as women in parts of the country bear witness to a bleak future under Taliban rule, that their fate will tell the story of Afghanistan.

“Women’s empowerment was the most real and tangible achievement of the international community's intervention over the past 20 years and yet, unfortunately, also the most vulnerable one,” Rahmani said. “The best indicator to what happens in Afghanistan moving forward is what happens to its women. What happens to its women is telling you what happens in Afghanistan.”

Rahmani also expressed concern for her friends and family still in Afghanistan as the situation appears more dire by the day.

“I'm extremely worried. They are stranded. They are confused. As you pointed out earlier, there is no money in the banks. They don't know what the future will hold for them. They are just hopeless,” Rahmani said. “And I don't think that they even feel that. They are just struggling right now and hoping to make it to the next day. That is the status right now.”

The Mehdi Hasan Show airs Sundays at 8 p.m. on MSNBC.

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