Musician and activist Tom Morello is doing what he can to help a group of female musicians in Afghanistan who are under threat now that the Taliban is in full control of the country following the pull-out of all foreign troops on August 30.
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In an open letter penned by Morello and delivered to Billboard by the 57-year-old rocker’s friend and guitar teacher, Lanny Cordola, Morello pleads for help evacuating the young women who have been attending a music school Cordola began in 2015, called Girl With a Guitar, founded through his non-profit Miraculous Love Kids.
“I’m writing on behalf of some very special girls in Afghanistan who are in grave danger,” Morello began. “[Girl With a Guitar] takes in street orphans and other girls that have endured significant trauma and uses music as a rehabilitation tool and means of working through their problems, their histories, and their hopes.”
"I’ve had the honor of collaborating with these wonderful kids. Since the Taliban takeover, their school has been destroyed and the girls are in hiding,” he added.
Cordola, currently in Pakistan attempting to get to get 12 girls, their families, and his driver out of Afghanistan, says their "lives are in peril," adding, "we’re trying to investigate if getting them to the Pakistan border is a possibility. We’ve been talking to a lot of different people, rescue organizations. We need to get them out of Afghanistan to start a new life somewhere."
Morello clarified the dire situation, saying. "They are at extreme risk because [the girls] are widely known to have performed Western music and have been educated by a male American teacher. Anything you could do to help save their lives would be much appreciated.” Leaving the girls in Afghanistan is not an option for Morello. "I’m not thinking that way yet,” he says, although he has advised them to destroy their guitars but the school’s program coordinator chose to store them in the now-closed school.
Click here for more information and details on how you can help.
According to reports, the threat is very real for musicians as Afghan folk singer Fawad Andarabi was dragged from his home and killed before the weekend, following a decree by the Taliban declaring music forbidden in the country. "He was innocent, a singer who only was entertaining people," his son told the Associated Press.
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