Name: Safora
I am 17 years old. When the Taliban took control of Afghanistan again, I had not yet turned fifteen. When they arrived in our village, they ordered the mosque Mullahs and neighborhood representatives to prepare lists of unmarried girls, mosque by mosque, and hand them over.
About six months after their arrival, one day, there was a knock on the door. When my father opened it, he anxiously called out, “Women, go inside, we have guests.” My father was in the guest room for almost an hour. When he returned, he looked deeply worried and troubled. My mother asked, “Who was it? The boys weren’t here so I couldn’t send tea.” But my father didn’t seem to hear her. He pulled my mother aside and whispered something in her ear. My mother immediately struck her hands against her head and said, “Man, absolutely do not accept! The girl will kill herself.”
When I heard this, I felt like my soul left my body, and I collapsed. My parents stood over me, looking worried. My father said, “My daughter, Commander (…) has come to ask you to marry him. I tried to refuse, saying I have no daughter for marriage, but unfortunately, your name is on the list of unmarried girls.” My father kissed my head and said, “My daughter, if safety and honor of our family mean anything to you, please hear me out.
Tears streamed down my face, but I stayed silent as my voice caught in my throat. My father returned to the guest room. I don’t know what they told him, but he made his decision quickly, choosing to sacrifice me. An hour later, he returned with a bowl of water and a bundle of money, which I later found out was fifty thousand Afghanis. He forced a sip of the water down my throat, placed the money in my hand, and, crying, left again.
Without a word, without a ceremony, without even seeing that savage man, I became the wife of a Taliban commander who had married another girl my age just four months earlier. From that day on, whenever he pleases, he comes to my father’s house, rapes me, and leaves, there is no talk of a proper marriage, no home, no future nothing.
I have become nothing more than the sex slave of a brutal Taliban commander who constantly talks about religion and blasphemy. Just like that… just like that.
