Driving girls to low -wage carpets after the school banned

In a workshop in Kabul where the carpet is made, hundreds of women and girls work in a narrow space, which is thick and suffocating air.

Among them, he asked Hassan, 19. “Girls no longer have an opportunity to study,” she says with a troubled smile. “The circumstances took that from us, so we turned into the workshop.”

Since the Taliban seized power in 2021, girls over the age of 12 have been prevented from obtaining 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 decreased more under the Taliban rule.

The lack of opportunities, along with the terrible economic situation facing the country, has prompted many to long days of carpet weaving – one of the few deals that the Taliban government allows women to work.

According to the United Nations, livelihoods of about 1.2 to 1.5 million Afghans depend on the carpet weaving industry, as women constitute approximately 90 % of the workforce.

In the economy of that The United Nations warned in the 2024 report “Essentially collapsed” warning since the Taliban took power, carpet export works are thrived.

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

But this does not necessarily mean better wages for weavors. Some BBC said that they had not seen any profit from a piece sold in Kazakhstan last year, which brought $ 18,000.

Inside Afghanistan, the carpet sells much less – between 100 – 150 dollars per square meter. In need of money to help support their families and the presence of few options to work, workers surrounded low -wage employment.

Carpet women say they earn about 27 dollars per square meter, which usually takes about a month to produce it. This is less than a dollar per day despite the long, arduous transformations that often extend to 10 or 12 hours.

Nisar Ahmed Hasini, president of ElMak BAFT, who allowed BBC to go to his workshops, said he paid his employees between $ 39 and $ 42 per square meter. He said they are paid every two weeks, with a working day for eight hours.

The Taliban said repeatedly that girls will be resolved by returning to school as soon as their fears are resolved, such as aligning the curricula with Islamic values, but so far, no concrete steps have been taken to achieve this.

After the emergence of the Taliban government, Mr. Hasini said, his organization has made its mission to support those who were behind the closure.

He says: “We created three workshops to weave carpets and wool rotation.”

“About 50-60 % of these carpets are exported to Pakistan, while the rest is sent to China, the United States of America, Turkey, France and Russia to meet the request of customers.”

Shakeila, 22, is making carpets with her sisters in one of the modest rental rooms that they also share with their elderly parents and their three siblings. They live in the poor Dasht-E Barchi area, on the western suburbs of Kabul.

She once dreamed of becoming a lawyer, but she is now leading the carpet making process for her family.

“We could not do anything else,” Shakela told me. “There were no other jobs.”

She explains how her father taught her to weave when she was ten years old and was recovering from a car accident.

What started as a necessary skill in times of difficulties is now the lifestyle of the family.

Shakeila’s sister, Samira, who is 18 years old, aspires to be a journalist. Maryam, 13, was forced to stop going to school before she could start a dream in a profession.

Before the Taliban returned, the three were students at the Sayed Al -Shanada Secondary School.

Their lives were changed forever after fatal bombings in school in 2021, killing 90 people, most of them are young girls, and left nearly 300 wounded.

The previous government blamed the Taliban for the attack, although the group denied any involvement.

For fear of another tragedy, their father made a decision to withdraw them from school.

Samira, who was at school when the attacks occurred, left a shock, spoke with stuttering and struggling to express herself. However, she says she will do anything to return to official education.

“I really wanted to finish my studies,” she says. “Now that the Taliban became in power, the security situation improved and there were fewer suicide bombings.

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

Despite the low wages and hours of work facing these women, the lives of some are not interrupted.

Once again in one of the workshops, Sal, designed and hoped, confirmed that she was studying English over the past three years.

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

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