Girls driven to low -paid carpets after a school ban

At a workshop in Kabul, where carpets are made, hundreds of women and girls work in a narrow space, the air is thick and suffocating.

Among them is 19-year-old Salehe Hasani. “We, the girls, have no chance to learn anymore,” she says with a decayed smile. “The circumstances took this from us, so we turned to the workshop.”

As the Taliban seized power in 2021, girls over the age of 12 were banned from gaining education and women from many jobs.

In 2020, only 19% of women were part of the workforce – four times less than men. This number has fallen even more at the Taliban government.

The lack of opportunities, combined with the difficult economic situation that the country faces, has pushed many on long, laborious days of weaving carpets – one of the few trade in which the Taliban government allows women to work.

According to the UN, the livelihood of about 1.2 to 1.5 million Afghans depends on the carpet weaving industry, with women accounting for nearly 90% of the workforce.

In an economy that The UN warned in a 2024 report. The “basic collapse” warning as the Taliban took energy, the business for the export of carpets is flourishing.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade noted that in the first six months of 2024 alone, over $ 2.4 million pounds – $ 8.7 million ($ 6.6 million) – were exported to countries such as Pakistan, India, Austria and the United States.

But this does not necessarily mean better salaries for weavers. Some of the BBC spoke, said they had not seen a single profit from a piece sold in Kazakhstan last year, which brought $ 18,000.

Within Afghanistan, carpets are sold for much less – between $ 100 to $ 150 per square meter. In need of money to help support their families and have few job opportunities, workers are trapped in low -paid labor.

Carpets say that they earn about $ 27 for each square meter, which usually takes about a month. This is less than a dollar a day, despite the long, exhausting shifts, which often extend to 10 or 12 hours.

Nisar Ahmad Hasini, head of Elmak Baft, who has released the BBC in his workshops, said he pays his employees between $ 39 and $ 42 per square meter. He said they were paid every two weeks, with an eight -hour day.

The Taliban has repeatedly said that the girls would be allowed to return to school after his concerns, such as aligning the curriculum with Islamic values, are allowed – but so far no specific steps have been taken to make it happen.

Hasini said that after the rise of the Taliban government, his organization was a mission to support those left by the closure.

“We have created three workshops for weaving carpets and a wave rotation,” he says.

“About 50-60% of these carpets are exported to Pakistan, while the rest are sent to China, USA, Turkey, France and Russia to respond to customer demand.”

The 22 -year -old Shakila makes carpets with her sisters in one of the modest rental rooms, which they also share with their elderly parents and three brothers. They live in the impoverished area of ​​Dasht-E Barki, in the western suburbs of Kabul.

She once dreamed of becoming a lawyer, but now she has the operation to prepare her family's carpets.

“We couldn't do anything else,” Shakila tells me. “There was no other job.”

She explains how her father taught her to weave when she was 10 and he recovered from a car accident.

What started as a necessary skill in times of difficulty has now become the family's life line.

Shakila's sister, 18-year-old Samira, seeks to be a journalist. The 13 -year -old Mariam was forced to stop going to school before he even started dreaming of a career.

Prior to the return of the Taliban and the three were students at Saed Al Shuhada High School.

Their lives were forever changed after deadly attacks at the school in 2021 killed 90 people, mostly young girls, and left nearly 300 injured.

The previous government has accused the Taliban of the attack, although the group denied any involvement.

Fearing another tragedy, their father decided to withdraw them from school.

Samira, who was at school when the attacks happened, was left traumatized, spoke with stuttering and struggling to express herself. However, she says she would do anything to return to official education.

“I really wanted to finish my training,” she says. “Now that the Taliban is in power, the security situation has improved and there is less suicide attacks.

“But schools are still closed. That's why we have to work.”

Despite the low pay and the long hours of work that these women face, the spirits of some are continuous.

Back in one of the workshops, Salehe, decisive and hope, confided that she has been studying English for the last three years.

“Although schools and universities are closed, we refuse to stop our education,” she says.

One day, Sale adds, she plans to become a leading doctor and build the best hospital in Afghanistan.