She was told to marry in a country which bans girls' education. So she got in a taxi and fled Yogita LimayeSouth Asia and Afghanistan correspondent, in KabulAlia travelled to the Afghan capital to escape the prospect of marriage as her only optionAlia - whose name we have changed for her safety - travelled hundreds of miles from her village to Kabul to escape marriage.The journey by taxi last year with her female cousin - covered from head to toe, only their eyes visible, as the rules decree - was an exceptional thing to do, and risky in Afghanistan, where at any moment they might be caught by the Taliban inspectors enforcing rules banning women travelling long distances without a male relative escorting them.But Alia, who is 19, and her cousin weren't stopped at any Taliban checkpoints, and made it to the capital."I made up an excuse to my family saying I was coming here to meet my friends and former classmates. The actual reason is that if I stayed in Daykundi, I would be forced to get married."Instead, she arrived in Kabul with a plan: she enrolled in an English language course.These short-term, narrowly-focused private courses - available only to those who can afford them - are, along with madrasas which focus on religious education, the only options for girls to learn past primary school in Afghanistan.
But neither are close to being a substitute for formal schooling.It has now been almost five years since the Taliban stopped girls over 12 going to school, with various reasons given to explain why the ban is still in place.Years in which girls like Alia have grown up without the education they wanted and needed. Years in which the path to a career has been effectively shut off, narrowing their options until millions of girls in Afghanistan have been left with just one choice: marriage.AFP via ImagesThese boys are attending a madrasa, or religious school. Some religious education is available to girlsAlia's story is unusual, not just for her bravery.
But she also comes from a family which has the funds to pursue the few opportunities available to young women - a rarity in a country where three in four people cannot meet their basic needs, according to the United Nations.It's not that Alia's family do not want her to study – they accepted she wanted to stay in Kabul, and are funding her English course even now - but even they are constrained by the realities of life in Afghanistan."Before the ban, my parents passionately encouraged me to go to school. They told me you can definitely achieve your dream of becoming a pilot."But now they say the best way for me is to get married because I can't go to school, to university, I can't even work."Alia has been receiving marriage proposals. She is afraid she might have to accept one, afraid that the family she marries into might not give her the freedom her parents do.
"Some families can be very restrictive. It's possible they could tell me to forget my dreams. I don't feel positive at all about it."But her resolve is steely.
"If my family don't force me to get married, I will wait. I will resist it until my very last breath."But resisting is hard.In a small, bare home in the west of Kabul, we meet Shama."If the Taliban had not taken over, I would have almost finished school by now. I would be close to my dream of becoming a doctor.
That is what I wanted," says Shama.Instead, four years ago, aged 18, she was pushed by her mother to get married. Now she is the mother of an infant and a toddler – both girls.We have changed the names of her and her family for their safety.BBC/Imogen AndersonThe BBC is protecting the identities of all the women who contributed to this articleHer mother Kamila - who worked as a cleaner to put her daughters through school after her husband died six years ago - felt she had no choice. She feared that her daughter – a young woman of marriageable age – would attract negative attention and face difficulties if she stayed single."I was fearful that they [foot soldiers of the Taliban government] will question why I'm not getting her married," Kamila tells us."I had wanted her to be educated, work and contribute to society.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
