“Today, 2nd of Hoot 1404 (February 21, 2026) the school bell rings, and it begins the fifth year of Afghan women and girls being denied education. Five years in which our books were burned, our hopes were broken, and our human right was taken away. Five years of silence from the world, five years of watching without action.
In these years, no country, no institution, no organization built even one online school for Afghan girls. The United Nations did nothing. Millions of girls were forced into marriage, millions lost their future because they could not study, and the world only watched. No books, no pens, no simple tools for learning. No schools, no universities, no trusted institutions to give certificates and open the way to higher education.
Enough of empty slogans for Afghan women. We never received real help. We do not want to be shown every day in the news only as “victims without education.” If anyone truly cared, they would have built free online schools, given access to global learning, or provided devices, tablets, laptops, smartphones, to continue education.
But no one became our voice. Only Afghan women and girls themselves created opportunities for each other. They lifted one another from despair and gave hope. They studied without certainty, without recognition, without knowing if they would ever receive a diploma. Yet they continued and did not stop.
Still, the success of a few cannot heal the pain of the many. Those forced into marriage, those who became child-mothers, those who ended their lives, none must be forgotten. This denial is not just a number; it is a human tragedy repeated every day.
We have always been a name that filled the world, but we never received its support. What did the United Nations do for Afghan women? Nothing. Worse, sanctions increased, punishing the powerless while the crimes of the powerful went unpunished. The oppressed are blamed for the smallest act, while the oppressors walk free.
Yes, we are the oppressed Afghans. But our silent cry, our broken pen, and our burnt hope still stand. And if there is any chance left, it is in free online schools, the small windows to the world that can open a future for Afghan women and girls.”
M. H
