CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Dozens of people from Chicago's Afghan community gathered in Daley Plaza Sunday with a message for the U.N. Security Council (UNSC), which is planning to meet and discuss granting recognition to the Taliban government.
“We are gathering here to show our protest and say we cannot deal and agree with Taliban recognition by UNSC,” said Maryam Mirzae.
Mirzare and others, including Zeba Mohammed-Arif, said they're “sad” and “angry” as the Taliban have increasingly restricted women's rights, banning them from higher education and many government jobs.
“I see the situation [with] my family, relatives, my sister, all living in Afghanistan, so we are not going to give the government to the Taliban, who are extremists [and] violating the law of human rights,” Mohammed-Arif said.
Tamana Rizaei recently came to the United States from Afghanistan, where she also protested.
“Women of Afghanistan are so strong, so they never will give up,” Rizaei said. “We decided … at that time, if we didn't get our freedom, we will fight. We will fight, and we [will] never let the Taliban be [the] government for our country, because as a human we have that right.”
Melika Alemi, a 16-year-old Afghan American, said she's putting herself in the shoes of girls her age in Afghanistan.
"There are girls who have never felt water,” Alemi said. “There are girls who have never felt oxygen go through their hair. It makes me feel very privileged, but at the same time, sometimes I feel guilty for something I have no control over. Out of these millions of girls that could've been me, I could've been back in Afghanistan with no rights at all.”
Rizaei and many others struck a similar tone:
“Please do not recognize the Taliban. Because if the Taliban [are the] government in our country, then half of society will die. It means women.”
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