The Taliban Is Targeting Disability Rights Activists

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The day the Taliban seized control of Kabul, they lobbed a grenade into A’s yard, and he promptly left home to seek refuge. A lower-limb amputee and prominent disability rights activist, he’s at risk because of his disability rights organization’s association with the United States.

“We have implemented a number of US grants and therefore…they think that me and my people are on a spy mission for the Americans,” A wrote in an e-mail to me.

As of Monday, the Taliban has shown up at A’s house three times. They also visited the office of the organization, where they asked security guards for A’s whereabouts. A is moving from house to house to evade capture. At least 50 disability rights activists like A and their families are imperiled, says Isabel Hodge, the executive director of the United States International Council on Disabilities (USICD). In 2017, USICD and the Afghanistan embassy in Washington, D.C., held a disability rights conference at Georgetown University; by virtue of their association with the United States, the lives of these grantees and program partners are now in danger.

For many years, these disability rights activists have been providing vital services to Afghans with disabilities through organizations involved with rehabilitation services, vocational training, leadership training, and microfinancing, among other services.

For many years, these disability rights activists have been providing vital services to Afghans with disabilities through organizations involved with rehabilitation services, vocational training, leadership training, and microfinancing, among other services.

The international community has also provided little to no help to Afghan disability rights activists, according to Hodge.

None of the approximately 50 disability rights activists that she had identified to the State Department has been evacuated, according to Hodge.

She and M are also concerned that disabled victims of war will lose their monthly stipend provided by the administration under former President Ghani, which helps them pay for food and other necessities, and that rehabilitation centers will shut down, withdrawing critical medical support for Afghans with disabilities. Small businesses owned by people with disabilities are also shutting down, making them extra vulnerable in an economy already in free fall.

the past, Afghans with disabilities have been recruited by the Taliban to become suicide bombers. According to his autopsies of the remains of bombers in Kabul between 2004 and 2007, Dr. Yusef Yadgari, a senior assistant professor at Kabul Medical University, found that more than 80 percent of them were disabled or chronically ill.

“They are probably resentful because in Afghan society they are outcasts,” Yadgari told NPR. “They hold a grudge because many of them can’t get a job. “

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