A freelance journalist has described her feelings of fear for her young daughter as the Taliban took control of Afghanistan's capital, Kabul on Monday.
The fundamentalist group seized control over the entire country over the course of a little more than one week, taking many world leaders by surprise.
Saida Emami told 1 NEWS the current situation unfolding in the country is "terrifying" as "what we’re experiencing right now is what I experienced when I was two years old myself".
“To experience this as a grownup and as a mother … It’s very terrifying because all these years we thought we brought changes, we fought for our rights, we wanted to be heard and we wanted to have our basic fundamental rights; just the right to live and to be heard.
“After all the sacrifices, all the efforts that we made and now it’s all back to square zero - not even one.”
The 30-year-old said she did not want her two-year-old daughter to "grow up the same".
“At her age, I went through this and I thought, ‘I’m providing her a better future’ but unfortunately, my daughter, she’s going through this same exact situation that I went through as a child.
“It’s heartbreaking. She’s my baby and she’s a girl.”
She said civilians stuck in Afghanistan are terrified, adding that “if there was a scale, even 100 is not enough because it will go above and beyond that”.
Emami said she was afraid about the setback to progress made for women and girls in the country as “what achievements we’ve made is completely against [the Taliban’s] beliefs".
"Their belief is that women are supposed to be at home, give birth and to cook - nothing else. We’ve lost hope, to be honest."
She said the transfer of power to the Taliban after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the city “wasn’t really peaceful” in some provinces amid reports of looting, fighting and the displacement of 15,000 families from the provinces.
The transition currently underway in the capital of Kabul "wasn’t really violent", however.
"Even though it’s been peaceful, they entered peacefully, they’ve been trying to calm us down but from the past experiences, I really don’t see much and I don’t have faith, to be honest."
She described her experience growing up under Taliban rule as “horrifying” and “terrible”, adding that she, her sister and her mother were unable to go grocery shopping as they did not have a male family member to accompany them.
Emami said her father, who had been a deputy minister, had narrowly missed being hanged by the Taliban.
“My father was taking a bath to go get ready and to congratulate the Taliban for coming to Afghanistan because we thought it’s good.
"And then we get a knock at 6 'oclock in the morning and … they were like, we’re here for your husband and we're going to go and hang him."
It sparked panic at Kabul’s international airport where many countries were evacuating their citizens and staff. (Source: Other)
She said her mother, who had been seven months pregnant with twins at the time, was hit in the stomach after she started screaming, leading to the loss of one of her children.
"She went to the bathroom ... and was like run - you have to run.
"We took him to the roof and he was like, you’re throwing me away from the second floor to the ground and it’s like cement and concrete and my mother went, I’d rather have you disabled than having you dead so she threw my dad away."
The fundamentalist group took control of most of Afghanistan in 1996 after a two-year civil war. (Source: Other)
Emami, who also works for the Save the Children charity, said while she has the opportunity to evacuate as a member of the media, her family would be unable to accompany her and “it’s not just me”.
“What about my father, who went through all of the sacrifices he made for me to be me, who I am … I cannot take a chance to leave them in this chaos because I know they will come after them.
“How can I leave them behind? I would rather die here with them compared to just leave them here, dying for something he did for me as a child and now we’re just stuck here.
"We don’t know where to go. All the borders are closed, we’ve lost hope - I just wish somebody could just save us."
She said she and her friends have been attempting to find visas or shelter, with many of her female friends being too afraid to sleep or visit their favourite restaurants.
“Now, for me, as an educated woman, as an independent woman, I feel like all the rights that I have, I would lose all my rights, the basic rights.
“For me to be able to work again, for me to be able to be independent - financially, emotionally and everything - it’s going to be all taken away from me.”
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