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Hollywood star Angelina Jolie urges people to help ensure Afghan women are not forgotten

Just Earth News | @justearthnews | 07 Feb 2022

Hollywood star Angelina Jolie urges people to help ensure Afghan women are not forgotten

Image: Wallpaper Cave

Los Angeles/UNI: Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie has taken to social media calling on people to be aware of the level of atrocities taking place in the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

Sharing a personal letter she received from an Afghan girl on Instagram, parts of which were blurred out so as to conceal the identity of the woman, the actress and humanitarian said: “A young woman in Afghanistan sent me this letter. I am protecting her identity, but she hasn't been able to go back to school since the Taliban seized power."

"Now, with women being arrested simply for taking part in peaceful protests," she writes

“I might never be able to go outside again or even be able to speak as I am a girl,” Jolie added.

“I feel like women don't have any right to speak or put their word forward. The rights of the woman are taken away from them and they are not allowed to do anything in the country,” she went on to write.

Jolie concluded her post, saying, “Please track what is happening in Afghanistan, where young women are being taken from their homes at night at gunpoint and disappeared, and new restrictions are being imposed on the freedom of women and girls day by day."

"Please help ensure they're not forgotten,” the actress urged.

The 46 year old made her debut back in August, where she shared a different letter from another young woman who expressed her fears of a future Afghanistan ruled by Taliban post their takeover.

"This is a letter I was sent from a teenage girl in Afghanistan," Jolie wrote at the time.

"Right now, the people of Afghanistan are losing their ability to communicate on social media and to express themselves freely. So I've come on Instagram to share their stories and the voices of those across the globe who are fighting for their basic human rights," Jolie said.

In the letter, the young anonymous woman detailed how she and many others were constantly living their lives in fear, saying that "all our dreams are gone."

In response, Jolie, who is a former U.N. goodwill ambassador, and has worked with refugees in years past wrote, "It is sickening to watch Afghans being displaced yet again out of the fear and uncertainty that has gripped their country."

"To spend so much time and money, to have blood shed and lives lost only to come to this, is a failure almost impossible to understand," she added.

"Watching for decades how Afghan refugees - some of the most capable people in the world - are treated like a burden is also sickening. Knowing that if they had the tools and respect, how much they would do for themselves. And meeting so many women and girls who not only wanted an education, but fought for it." Jolie had stated her intention at the time that she would remain active in her fight to aid the Afghan women.

"Like others who are committed, I will not turn away. I will continue to look for ways to help. And I hope you'll join me," Jolie said.