Belquis Roshan: “Only we can truly rid ourselves of the Taliban.”

Belquis Roshan, a former senator in the Afghan Parliament (a member of the Upper House, Meshrano Jirga, since 2011, and of the Lower House, Wolesi Jirga, since 2019), could no longer remain in Afghanistan. She had to flee to avoid being killed. But the sense of defeat is stronger than the relief of having escaped danger.

“Every moment since I left Afghanistan has been difficult. I tried my best to improve my country, but we were betrayed and we failed. I was forced to leave alone; my entire family remained there.”

Roshan was well-known; from her position in Parliament, she had always denounced crimes, corruption, and betrayal, and had always fought for women’s rights and against all the Islamic fundamentalists who infested it. She had no shortage of enemies. We met her in Rome, where she spoke at the press conference at the Chamber of Deputies, promoted by the Italian Coordination in Support of Afghan Women (CISDA) to present the results of the petition “Stop Fundamentalism – Stop Gender Apartheid.”

Belquis Roshan, this isn’t the first time you’ve left your country, right?
BR This is my third escape. I fled with my family during the Russian invasion and the first Taliban government, but I never imagined I’d go down this path again. For the entire first year, after the Taliban arrived in Kabul, I hoped I could stay. But then in 2022, some Afghan politicians from the former government were beaten, tortured, dragged through the streets, and killed. After this episode, my companions put a lot of pressure on me to leave. They told me, “If you stay, they’ll arrest you, and we’ll be left without hope. It would be a disgrace for the entire resistance movement because we couldn’t protect you. Abroad, you might have the opportunity to help us from outside.”

Was it difficult to get to Europe?
BR Yes, difficult and dangerous. A few months before the Taliban arrived in Kabul, the government forced us to get a diplomatic passport. With that type of document, I couldn’t cross the border; the risk of being recognized was high. Someone took my passport to Pakistan, and I went on foot, clandestinely, through the mountains, with other strangers. A very difficult journey that many Afghans are forced to make.

How do you feel about your life in Germany now?
BR I have a great responsibility: to denounce what’s happening in my country, how people live, especially women, and the conditions of refugees in Iran and Pakistan. Every time I ask myself what the Afghans are to blame for having to live through such a tragedy for so long.

In Afghanistan, she was very popular; she had many supporters who believed in her. Do you still have contact with them?
BR Yes, I hear from them regularly, and they tell me about a desperate situation: no money, no work; many have fled to Pakistan and Iran. The oppression and violence are very strong, and people can’t take it anymore. I’ll give you an example. A friend who was the head of an army garrison in Farah was brutally killed while returning home after the army was disbanded. The Taliban asked the family to come and collect the body, but they refused; they only wanted revenge. They wanted to kill the murderers. Every family has a loss, a massacre, a Taliban attack to avenge. Revenge is brewing and could explode with great violence. Last month, the Taliban killed 300 young people, just like that, all at once. This cannot be tolerated. There will definitely be an uprising.

Is it possible that this anger will one day turn into organized resistance?
BR I can’t know when, but I’m sure that sooner or later there will be a popular revolution against this government. Only we can truly get rid of the Taliban.

What are the obstacles?
BR First of all, there’s a lack of leadership. No one trusts anyone; they’re all afraid of each other. People are scared, closed off, suspicious. Many of the people who want to present themselves as leaders are unreliable. But little by little, young soldiers and activists are emerging who are trying to organize this opposition. It will take a long time, but we know that every family in Afghanistan has a weapon to fight with and plenty of revenge to exact. If an uprising starts, everyone will join in.

There have been some spontaneous uprisings in recent years.
BR Yes, in almost all Afghan provinces, the population rebelled—ordinary people, market people, the unemployed—but they were defeated. The Taliban arrested and killed countless people, in Badakhshan, Kandahar, and Jalalabad. These uprisings have no leadership and are very weak; they were easily swept away by the Taliban. In Panjshir, for example, the military uprising failed. Their leader, Ahmad Massoud, was already abroad while the young people were being massacred. And now that province

is overrun by 30,000 Taliban soldiers, and every day people are losing their lives. They’re under heavy surveillance; they can’t even use a telephone.

And the women’s revolts?
BR The women were courageous, but they were defeated because they were poorly organized. They made a fundamental strategic error. They gathered and immediately spoke out, and it was easy for the Taliban to find them in their homes, arrest them, torture them, and kill them. Even their family members are persecuted, even now.

What should they have done?
BR They should have worked underground for a long time to organize a larger, deeper, and more united uprising. That way they could have survived and been more successful.

So, a long, clandestine effort—is that what you think could work?
BR Yes, there’s no need to rush. The resistance must be clandestine and widespread, not concentrated in one place; that would be too fragile. Stay in the shadows until you’re strong enough to have any hope of victory.

Is there support for the Taliban in the country, for example among the Pashtun population?
BR The grassroots Taliban are fed up with this misgovernment. They’re doing a great job of brainwashing, building thousands of madrassas (middle and higher education institutions for Muslim religious and legal sciences, ed.) to indoctrinate the population and increase their support, but they can’t. The rigidity of their rules is rejected by everyone. There’s daily civil disobedience everywhere, like when people still play and sing at weddings, despite the bans. Even within the Taliban, some extreme rules are rejected. I think it’s precisely among the Pashtuns that the Taliban have their strongest opponents. The Taliban’s extreme ideology is not part of our culture. Afghans have never been religiously radical, then, when the communist regime fell, the UN failed to oppose the mujahideen and let them take power with their extremist ideology. It was a grave mistake not to intervene; they failed to prevent all the tragedies that resulted from this mistake. Tragedies that affected women in particular. There was a lot of violence against women in the past, too, but at least these cases could be reported; there were laws to rely on. Now, any crime is permitted, impunity is total. I hear horrible stories every day, even from my family.

Could the Taliban government survive without financial support from the United States?
BR The Taliban have seized the country’s mines and other resources, but I can confidently say that without this money, they couldn’t survive even six months. They need it to keep the government functioning.

If this support were to end, could it be an advantage in bringing down the regime?
BR I don’t think so. If the Taliban were to run out of funds, a civil war would break out, even among them, because internal tensions are very high and fierce fighting for resources would certainly break out. It would be a period of uncontrolled wars, no one would run the country anymore, everything would be in disarray. And this isn’t even convenient for the United States.

Could the United States put political pressure on the Taliban government?
BR Of course. The United States is playing against the interests of the Afghan people. They have always done what they wanted: hand the country over to the Taliban, install two presidents, manage puppet governments. Through economic blackmail, they could easily put pressure on the Taliban government and get what they want, even organize elections, anything. But they don’t do it.

Why?
BR They have no interest in improving the situation of the Afghan people; the important thing is to have control of the country, to better counter China and Iran. And for that, a fragile, completely dependent country is needed. If the Afghans were stronger, they would no longer be manipulated.

Is there still a US military presence on Afghan soil?
BR The intelligence services are very active on the ground, not so much the military. But the Taliban are in contact with American soldiers for training and military support. Now it seems they want to take back the Bagram base. The Afghan sky is still in their hands.

What do you miss most about your country?
BR The people, the people. The freedom of movement I had. Here I’m forced to always stay in the same place, I have to ask permission to travel, to move, I’m always monitored. Despite all the difficulties, in Afghanistan I never felt depressed or sad.

Is there still hope in Afghanistan?
BR The war has been going on here for 50 years. Even now it’s a war, on women, on life, on freedom, on joy, on survival. But despite everything, the Afghan population continues to be full of life and hope for the future. When I talk to my relatives, they always tell me, “Don’t worry, you’ll be back soon. The Taliban are here for another two years and then they’ll leave.” They’re the ones who give me courage. Even when I hear from my friends, who were soldiers in the army, they tell me, “We’re waiting for you, we know you’ll come back, and we’re ready to work with you again.”

The article was published in Altreconomia on July 9, 2023