Advertisement

She Escaped The Taliban. Now She Fears U.S. Withdrawal From Afghanistan

06:09
Download Audio
Resume
Zarifa Hamidi, center with white paper, in the early 2000s at an orphanage in Afghanistan. (Courtesy)
Zarifa Hamidi, center with white paper, in the early 2000s at an orphanage in Afghanistan. (Courtesy)

President Biden says the U.S. military will withdraw from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attack that prompted a protracted war and years-long occupation in the region.

Critics argue that the exit could allow the Taliban to regain power as they did from 1996 to 2001, threatening the well-being of Afghan men and, particularly, women, who were stripped of their rights by the insurgent group.

Zarifa Hamidi was 7 years old in 2000 when the Taliban killed her father and forced her family to flee their village in northern Afghanistan. Her mother, who was not allowed to work because she was a woman, had to put Hamidi and her siblings in an orphanage.

Hamidi, who now lives in the U.S., speaks with Here & Now's Peter O'Dowd about her experience and how that has shaped her belief that the U.S. should not leave Afghanistan.

Zarifa Hamidi in Jordan in 2010 with Felisa Hervey, who was her first English teacher and in the Air Force. (Courtesy)
Zarifa Hamidi in Jordan in 2010 with Felisa Hervey, who was her first English teacher and in the Air Force. (Courtesy)

This segment aired on April 29, 2021.

Related:

Advertisement

More from Here & Now

Listen Live
Close