Afghan filmmaker Sahraa Karimi’s open letter appeal

New India [India]: Amid the rapidly changing situation in Afghanistan, on Sunday, Bollywood filmmaker Anurag Kashyap shared a social media appeal from Sahraa Karimi, an Afghan filmmaker, who is the first female chairperson of the Afghan Film Organisation.

Anurag took to his Instagram handle and shared an open letter from the filmmaker, originally shared on Karimi’s Twitter account.
In it, she had talked about the atrocities faced by the people of Afghanistan and urged everyone to spread her message widely. In the caption of his post, Anurag wrote, “Pls share it far and wide…”

Karimi began her letter, by writing, “I write to you with a broken heart and a deep hope that you can join me in protecting my beautiful people, especially filmmakers from the Taliban. 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…”

She also added an appeal to everyone to raise their voice. Karimi wrote, “The media, governments, and the world humanitarian organizations are conveniently silent as if this ‘Peace deal’ with the Taliban was ever legitimate. It was never legitimate. Recognizing them gave them the confidence to come back to power. Taliban has been brutalizing 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.”

“Please help us get this world to not abandon Afghanistan. Please help us before the Taliban take over Kabul. We have such little time, maybe days,” Karimi concluded the letter.

Amid the transfer of power in Afghanistan, after U.S.-led forces withdrew the bulk of their remaining troops in the last month, the Taliban campaign accelerated as the Afghan military’s defences appeared to collapse. The United States Armed Forces are scheduled to be withdrawn from Afghanistan by 31 August.

In a separate development, the Taliban have entered Kabul, capturing Kabul University in the west of the Afghan capital.

Earlier, the Taliban in a statement had assured residents of Kabul not to be afraid as they do not intend to enter the Afghan capital militarily and there will be a peaceful movement towards Kabul. (ANI)

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