Woman film director who fled Afghanistan urges world to push Taliban to accept some conditions of democratic society

Afghan female film director Sahraa Karimi urged the international community to not recognize the Taliban easily and to push the group to accept some conditions of a democratic society.

Afghan woman film director Sahraa Karimi urged the international community to not recognize the Taliban easily and to push the group to accept some conditions of a democratic society.

In an exclusive interview with NHK World, she urged the global community, "You kept silent these past few months, while these miserable things happened to Afghanistan, but please do not continue keeping the silence. The world shouldn't. They shouldn't recognize the Taliban easily. They should push the Taliban to accept some conditions of a democratic society. If the Taliban wants to be in power, they should accept human rights, women's rights, the rights of girls to education, rights of citizens to freedom of expression, to freedom of the press. The younger generation is afraid of the Taliban, they don't accept the Taliban. But the Taliban should come to this conclusion: that they need the young generation, with knowledgeable young people in banking, economy, politics and everything. So, when they want the cooperation of the young generation, they should give to the young generation freedom."

Sahraa Karimi is behind various films that focus on the lives and rights of women. Her work earned her the position of chairperson for Afghan Film, a state-run production company. But her work came to an abrupt halt on August 15 when the Taliban seized control of Kabul.

Fearing for her life, she fled to Ukraine and is now living in Italy.

When asked about her decision to leave Afghanistan, she told NHK World, "When I heard that the Taliban entered Kabul, the immediate image in front of my eyes was of my nieces. I was so afraid for them because the past four or five years, I educated them, I give them books to read. I always tell them that you are a liberal person, you are independent. I thought, whatever happens to me, the consequences will follow for them. Maybe the Taliban will kill me and they will kill them also. Maybe the Taliban arrests me. They will hurt my family, too. So, for that I decided, OK, I want to go out.

She also filmed herself and uploaded it on social media while fleeing Afghanistan. She said that the reason behind her uploading the film on social media was to show the world what was happening in her country.

"I thought: Does the world know about us, about what's going on? We had a very bad experience with the Taliban in the past, between 1996 and 2001. They killed people and massacred people, they limited women. I just immediately filmed myself, and said through Instagram, I just thought that the world should know. So, I took my nieces, my brother and two of my assistants to the airport. We just left, we just left for the airport. Then I shared that video on Instagram," she said.

Sharing her experience to NHK World about Afghanistan before the Taliban recaptured the nation, she said, "There were still terrorist attacks. There were still a lot of struggles. But many people, especially the younger generation, were doing a lot of good work. For example, in the past five or six years, we did a lot of development, a lot of achievement regarding the education of women, the participation of women in social, political and economic life. And also we had some political leaders, female political leaders, and entrepreneurs. I myself became the first female chairperson of Afghan Film. Before, it wasn't possible. So, the life was changing in a positive way, you know, the social life and cultural life."

Expressing her desire to make movies again, she said, "I am working on my new film, because I don't believe in grieving so much, you know, to be so sad because there is no time for sadness, there is time for fight, to become a voice because it is not anymore about me. In difficult times, in difficult situations, if you got saved, it meant that you have some responsibility for others. If I got saved from that situation, I think that this is my responsibility: to be a voice of many filmmakers of my country."

( With inputs from ANI )