‘Taliban kill women like me’: Afghans in South Korea say they don’t want to go back
- Seoul has allowed 430 Afghans currently in South Korea to stay temporarily and granted permanent resettlement to 391 Afghans evacuated from Kabul
- Domestic opposition to refugees is still rife and is now largely fuelled by economic concerns due to the pandemic
As a woman who chose to study abroad alone, without a husband or male family member to watch over her, Samet has no doubt she would be marked out as a sinner by Afghanistan’s new Islamist rulers, who took complete control a fortnight ago while the United States was in the final stages of winding up its two-decade military presence in the country.
“They just see all the people who are abroad or want to go abroad as sinful people, and if they get a chance to get revenge or kill any of the people like me, they do,” said Samet, who requested to use a pseudonym.
Despite pledges by the Taliban to uphold the rights of women and other groups, the United Nations has sounded the alarm over the “serious human rights concerns and situation” in the country. A spokesperson for the militant group earlier this week said women should temporarily stay at home for their own safety as some of its fighters had not been trained in “how to deal” with the opposite sex.
On Thursday, suicide bombers killed dozens of Afghan civilians and at least 13 US service members in an attack outside Kabul Airport that was claimed by an affiliate of the terrorist group Islamic State.
