The Tale of Rada Akbar, Afghan photographer: “I don't know if I'll be alive tomorrow”
Ha 33 is a single woman in Afghanistan who has lived alone for ten years in a Kabul apartment
Rada Akbar, Afghan photographer, with his art, with images and words she denounces the risk that she and those who think like her are now running.
The 33-year-old said she had little hope for the future, but her creativity remains a disruptive force in a country where emancipated women are a target. And she, donna single in Afghanistan, who lived alone for ten years in a Kabul apartment, he is not silent.
In this roundup, released on March 8 2021 for its annual Abarzanan exhibition (Superwomen), held for International Women's Day, Rada recounts spate of targeted killings against women, journalists and civil society, just as the western contingent left the country.
“It is very difficult to keep hope alive – he said – Right now. If I want to be realistic, Unfortunately, everything is very uncertain. And I don't see any good future, born for me, nor for others who think like me”.
By now all US and NATO forces are no longer stationed at Bagram Air Base near Kabul – the command center for anti-Taliban operations – effectively wrapping up their outing after that 20 years of military involvement in Afghanistan. Just as militants are waging a searing offensive against Afghan forces, after peace talks between the warring parties broke down.
“I don't know what will happen. I don't know what the future will be. I don't know if I will ever still be alive to see the future”.
But find “disrespectful” that the international community claims to be behind women's empowerment in Afghanistan, and is frustrated that a modern Afghan woman is often judged on whether she can speak English and whether or not she wears western clothing.
“The story of Afghan women didn't start after 2001”, says of the arrival of the US-led contingent that overthrew the Taliban.
“We have a long and rich past to which women have always contributed”.
