Ajmal was born in Afghanistan during the pro Soviet regime and then lived under Mujahedin rule. He was about 15-16 years old when the Taliban took over. He personally witnessed and experienced the restrictions and abuses of the Taliban. When he was about 20, he came to the United States. He ultimately came to Washington where he put himself through the University of Washington. He was nominated by the University Sunrise Rotary Club and was selected by the District as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar to Russia. He talked about his personal experiences with the Taliban, what he knows about what is happening there today, and what he expects for the future.
Ajmal talked to our club many years ago, just as the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan was beginning. He made quite an impression on the Club and we are delighted–and anxious–to hear from him again.
Presentation notes, Sept. 9, 2021 by Joseph Thomas
Note: Some of the notes are deliberately vague to protect the speaker’s extended family, still in Afganistan.
Today’s speaker, Ajmal, is not a stranger to the Seattle Sunrise Rotary Club. Having emigrated from Afganistan as a young man, he arrived here to attended the University of Washington, where he qualified for the Dean´s List and a prestigious scholarship. With his wide background and superior performance, the Club endorsed him in the District 5030 competition for an Ambassadorial Scholarship. He was selected and studied in Russia, having learned that language because he grew up in Afganistan during the Russian occupation of his native country.
Ajmal’s remarks focussed on the changes in daily life imposed on the population by the Taliban that took over the country within the past month. For men, the fundamentalist Moslems require them to refrain from shaving, follow the Moslem rule of prayers in the mosque five times a day, and the forceful elimination of the Western culture. He mentioned, for example, the armed patrols of Taliban that stop and search private cars for cassettes or CDs of Western music, flinging these “offensive” ítems into the tree branches.
For the women, many of whom were educated as profesionales in medicine and other sciences during the past decades, the imposition of the orthodox Muslem sect eliminates them from those professions. Women now are restricted to their homes and only allowed into the public accompanied by a male relative. The women are hit with sticks for not wearing the required hajab (headscraf), stylizing their hair and other offenses.
With relatives still living in the country, he cautiously suggested that the Taliban leadership will continue to mold the population into a culture living by conservative Islamic codes, stripped of the opening of opportunities afforded during the most recent decades, most especially to the women.