With the US and its allies completing the withdrawal and evacuation of Afghanistan, the situation for many vulnerable Afghans and others still in the country has now become uncertain at best. Despite its public proclamations of appeasement and a more progressive attitude towards governing, the Taliban is already reportedly conducting house-to-house searches and targeting individuals. Dead bodies displayed in public and other chilling reports are further evidence that life under the Taliban this time around may be no improvement on how it was from 1996 to 2001.
The UN’s women’s agency in the country has announced it is hearing of significant rollbacks on women’s rights every day. At the time of writing, secondary schools had been reopened for three weeks, but only for boys. The Taliban had yet to make an announcement regarding when or if girls would be allowed to return to school.
For members of the Afghan diaspora in Australia the situation is devastating. Belqis Youssofzay is one of the two directors of Sydney-based architectural practice Youssofzay + Hart. Born in Afghanistan in the 1980s during the Soviet occupation, she left as a seven-year-old with her
