Leave your job as a street vendor and marry a mujahedeen, says the Taliban

Atifa Atifa*authored this report for the Zan Times in Persian, and it was translated into English by Rustam Seerat.

Image source: Zan Times

I am a 35-year-old street vendor. I wear an old chador so that people can’t recognize me or guess my age. Underneath my chador, no one sees my state, how many tears I shed, or how much I pray for a customer to purchase something from me. I sell biscuits but it’s hard to make a living. Even if I work all day, I only earn 50 afghani.

I am terrified of the Taliban. Whenever I sit here, my greatest fear is that the Taliban patrol might come and stop me from working. Helmand province has always had restrictions aimed at women but people respected those who had to work, especially middle-aged and elderly women. They would even help transport their things. Now that the Taliban have taken over, the number of women seen in public has decreased significantly as they only leave their homes for specific things and only if necessary. When they see a woman, they assume they have the right to insult and belittle her.

I have to work in public, so I often bring my three-year-old son with me, hoping the Taliban will not bother me in my child’s presence.Just two days ago, A Taliban asked me why I…