Will Farzana Farazo be able to create a life for herself in France? Farzana Farazo pledged to continue her feminists fight for Afghanistan even from exile when she arrived in Paris in the summer of 2021 aboard a flight from Kabul.
But after a year, she admits to being “depressed”. Days after arriving in France, Farazo, a former police officer, was first introduced to AFP reporters. She was motivated at the time by her support for the fight for Afghan women’s rights.
She had escaped for her life after the Taliban’s dramatic conquest of Kabul, which led to the removal of the government’s Western-backed authorities, but she was confident she could continue from a distance. She faced reprisal as a police officer from Taliban insurgents the government had already been after. She also belongs to the Hazara minority, who is persecuted in the Sunni-majority nation since they are Shiites. Farazo claims to have lost the vigor she had upon arriving in France. She currently resides in the residence of a charity volunteer close to Paris. She claimed that for months, she had trouble falling asleep at night.
The situation of other refugees
According to the nation’s refugee agency OFPRA, over 13,000 Afghans in France—including those who had forged their own path—initiated asylum claims in 2021.
However, NGOs claim that the remaining red tape is making it difficult for refugees to enter France as well as for their families to follow, with thousands of people possibly waiting for their friends and families to be issued visas.
Read more: Taliban confirms killing of TTP commander Omar Khalid Khorasani, seeks probe of incident
