Angelina Jolie Shares Heartbreaking Letter From Afghan Woman About Life Under Taliban Rule
Jolie wants fans to pay attention to what is happening in Afghanistan.
Gennaro Leonardi Photos / Shutterstock Angelina Jolie is using her social media to inform her fans of the devastating conditions women in Afghanistan are living in.
Jolie, 46, shared a personal letter she had recevied from a young woman living in Afghanistan revealing terrifying details about the plight of women there.
The woman wrote to Angelina Jolie about life in Afghanistan under Taliban rule.
"A young woman in #Afghanistan sent me this letter," Jolie wrote in the caption of her photo. "I'm protecting her identity, but she hasn't been able to go back to school since the Taliban seized power."
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Jolie continued, writing that Afghan women are "being arrested simply for taking part in peaceful protests," with the young girl writing, "I might never be able to go outside again or even be able to speak as I am a girl."
"I feel like women don’t have any right to speak or put their word forward. The rights of the woman are taken away from them and they are not allowed to do anything in the country," the young woman shared in the letter to the "Maleficent" actress.
The Taliban were able to take control of Afghanistan on August 15, 2021, immediately beginning to retract woman's rights advances and media freedom.
Many of the secondary schools for girls in the country remained closed by the end of the year, and Afghan women were largely forbidden from working in jobs outside of teaching and health care.
Taliban authorities also imposed a wide-range of restrictions on Afghan media, causing nearly 70% of media outlets in the country to close.
Despite many Afghan women facing the threat of their civil liberties being stripped away, they are still fighting back.
Afghan women are taking to the streets and protesting, even with the threat of the Taliban and their attempts to ban protests.
In the letter to Jolie, the young Afghan woman detailed how "the rights of women are [being] taken away from them and they are not allowed to do anything in the country."
In a specific incident, the young woman wrote about how a "few weeks back the Taliban arrested two of the women who raised their voices in order to ask for the rights of woman and freedom."
Jolie ended her post by urging her followers to "track what is happening in Afghanistan where young women are being taken from their homes at night at gunpoint and disappeared, and new restrictions are being imposed on the freedom of women and girls day by day."
Several women's rights activist are currently missing in Afghanistan.
The "Eternals" actress also highlighted women's rights activists who are "missing" in Afghanistan, including Alia Azizi, Parwana Ibrahimkhel, Mursal Ayar, and Zahra Mohammadi, plus Tamana Zaryab Paryani and her three sisters.
This isn't the first time Jolie has shared letters from Afghan women on her social media.
Back in August 2021, when Jolie first joined Instagram, she had shared a different letter from another young woman who had expressed her fears for the future of Afghanistan after the Taliban seized power.
In that letter, the young woman whose identity had been hidden, detailed how she and many others were living in fear, sharing that "all of our dreams are gone."
Jolie, who is a former U.N. goodwill ambassador, and has worked with refugees in the past, wrote, "It is sickening to watch Afghans being displaced yet again out of the fear and uncertainty that has gripped their country."
Jolie promised to remain an activist in her fight to help Afghan women get the help and media attention they deserve.
"Like others who are committed, I will not turn away. I will continue to look for ways to help. And I hope you'll join me."
Nia Tipton is a writer living in Brooklyn. She covers pop culture, social justice issues, and trending topics. Follow her on Instagram.