Bollywood Director Anurag Kashyap Backs Afghan Filmmaker Sahraa Karimi Who Called Out Taliban

The Taliban* took over the presidential palace in Afghanistan and seized most of the nation's cities after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country on Sunday night. The collapse of the government has triggered fear and panic among the general public for their safety in the country.

Bollywood director Anurag Kashyap has come out in support of Afghan filmmaker Sahraa Karimi as she made an appeal through an open letter to end the silence over the Taliban's entry and atrocities.

Kashyap called for people to share Karimi's open letter far and wide on social media, pointing out what Taliban rule could mean for Afghanistan's creative community and its women.

Karimi, who is also the first female chairperson of the Afghan Film Organisation, said that the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan will see are banned.

"I and other filmmakers could be next on their hit list. They will strip away women's rights, we will be pushed to the shadows, to our homes, and our voices will be stifled into silence. Just in these few weeks, the Taliban have destroyed many schools and two million girls are now forced out of school", Karimi wrote.

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A post shared by Anurag Kashyap (@anuragkashyap10)

Calling it a humanitarian crisis, Karimi said that people's silence over this is unfair.

"It is a humanitarian crisis, and yet the world is silent. We have grown accustomed to this silence, yet we know it is not fair", Karimi wrote.

She pointed out that the "peace deal" with the Taliban was never legitimate and shared that everything she has built as a filmmaker in her country is at risk of falling apart.

"The media, governments, and the world humanitarian organisations are conveniently silent as if this 'peace deal' with the Taliban was ever legitimate. It was never legitimate. Recognising them gave them the confidence to come back to power. The Taliban has been brutalising our people throughout the entire process of the talks. Everything that I have worked so hard to build as a filmmaker in my country is at risk of falling", Karimi said.

While many people are fleeing Afghanistan in the wake of the Taliban takeover, Karimi said that she will stay and fight for her country. She urged people to come out to support and voice their concerns.  

"I do not understand this world. I do not understand this silence. I will stay and fight for my country, but I cannot do it alone. I need allies like you. Please help us get this world to care about what is happening to us. Please help us get this world to care about what is happening to us. Please help us by informing your countries' most important media what is going on here in Afghanistan. Be our voices outside Afghanistan", Karimi wrote.

Saddened to see hundreds of people gathered at the airport to evacuate the country after the Taliban's takeover, Karimi tweeted.

— Sahraa Karimi/ صحرا كريمي (@sahraakarimi) August 15, 2021

​Providing a glimpse of what the people of Afghanistan have undergone in the past, Karimi said: "In the last few weeks, the Taliban have gained control of so many provinces. They have massacred our people, they kidnapped many children, they sold girls as child brides to their men, they murdered a woman for her attire…".

 

*The Taliban is a terrorist group banned in Russia and many other nations.