BAHARİN LEHİB

Kabul- Parwan is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan. It is located north of Kabul Province, near the Golghondi Hill, also known as “the flower hill”. People living in this province mostly depend on agriculture and the province is famous for its mulberry trees.

While walking around, we saw a woman working on her field. We asked her if they make good money from mulberries. “Before the Taliban, a Turkish company opened a chocolate factory here. They bought all the mulberries from farmers. At that time, we made good money from mulberries and the factory employed many men,” Bibi Shirin told us.

After the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, the factory was closed down. Since then, no one buys mulberries from farmers and farmers only sell mulberries in street markets now.

‘The Taliban banned women from working’

Speaking about what happened after the Taliban took control of the country, she said, “The Taliban forces entered our region and told men that women no longer have the right to work, women should stay at home. Women in the region did accept it and kept working in the fields because they did not want to lose their freedom.  However, the owners of farms were afraid of the Taliban and did not employ women to work in their farms.”

‘I work on the fields for hours with my daugters’

“Working on the fields is exhausting, but I like it,” Bibi Shirin said, “I work on the fields for hours with my daughters. I feel free when I work on the fields. I do not want to lose my freedom.”