A gut-wrenching tale of a former female police officer in Afghanistan has come to light. Khatera Hashmi along with her two-year-old daughter was at a National Association for the Blind (NAB) campus in Delhi where she narrated her horrific ordeal in a recent interview.
She stated that despite being married at a minor age and lacking any formal schooling, she nevertheless chose to join the police department which infuriated the Taliban and they retaliated in the most brutal manner.
“My father got me engaged at the age of seven and got me married at the age of twelve to a much older man because he was money-grubbing. I wanted education, but the former didn’t allow it. Nonetheless, I made the decision to join the Afghan police. The Taliban started calling and threatening me due to their opposition to a woman being police personnel,” she said.
“The incident happened in the early months of 2020 when the Taliban were rapidly advancing to take over Afghanistan. I was pregnant at that time. One day, when I was walking home from the police station, they attacked me. My body was struck by 9 bullets, in addition to 10 knife stabs. They also cut out my eyes after I passed out,” she revealed the shocking details of the Taliban’s barbarity.
“When I awoke five days later, everything was pitch black. I had absolutely no vision. I was only able to work as a police officer for three months, and I wasn’t even able to view my first paycheck,” she narrated her tragedy.
Her body is still covered in tiny gunshot fragments which cause her frequent pain. The doctor attempted to get rid of them and gave her multiple injections of medication. Moreover, two gunshots are lodged in her head. She is unsure of when they will be taken out and is undergoing treatment. She also forgets many things when conversing because of the agony and has to pause for a while.
She has stone eyeballs on both sides. “Earlier, they were sutured and it used to be excruciatingly painful. My eyes were always watery,” she mentioned.
Referring to her daughter she unveiled, “I’ll never be able to see how she looks or appears when she laughs. I went blind before she was even born. Now, I can only envision her in my mind. I couldn’t even fathom that she would be born healthy.”
She even tried to kill herself after the occurrence. “The Taliban attacked me while she was still in the womb. I tried to attempt suicide many times but then stopped after thinking about her. I am aware that, at least today, I am living for my children. I had merely enlisted in the police force to defend Afghan women and kids. I wanted to help and protect them from the Taliban,” she bemoaned.
Her father disagreed with her choice to pursue a career in the police. “My dad didn’t want me to work for the police. No woman has ever held a job in my family until now. I began receiving daily threatening calls from different phone numbers from the Taliban after I joined the police, but I wasn’t worried.”
“The Taliban barred females from attending school and any girls from working. They sought to keep all the women confined to their houses. My father used to say the situation in the country is worsening. I wanted to assist Afghan women, but he used to say it was not right for me to join the police. However, I joined it without having any education,” she continued.
“When the Taliban’s monstrosities in Afghanistan began to progressively escalate and they began to launch covert attacks, I raised my voice against them.” She would visit the Afghan police officers every day to ask them to let her join the police.
“Some of them even laughed and told me that I am not educated and wanted to join the police. They thought I had ties to the Taliban as well, but one of their senior officers looked into it, spoke with me, and assisted me in joining the department,” she noted. Subsequently, she did receive some education. She worked for the police for one and a half years without any salary before joining and training in Kabul, which is when the instance took place.
“Three mask-donning Taliban attacked me. I put my hand by one of their collars during the assault and saw his face as I removed the mask. The Taliban believed I knew who they were. They shot at me with silencer-equipped weapons. Nine rounds were fired, striking my various body areas and I was stabbed ten times. I held my breath and they abandoned me thinking I was dead. The Afghan police arrived and helped get me checked into the hospital,” she proclaimed.
When queried if she had any old photos, she answered, “You are enquiring about a photo while my life was on the line.”
When she first joined the police force the Taliban used to visit her father and warn “Your daughter is not doing right. Make her understand.” She recollected, “My father said that what I had feared had come true when I went blind. I objected, but you didn’t listen.”
“My father should have taught me. I used to have eyes, but I was also blind before I lost them. I believe that education is the eyes’ light,” she conveyed stressing the importance of education.
Her current husband works in Delhi, but her first spouse, two sons and a daughter are still in Afghanistan. “In addition to my parents, my first husband, two sons, and a daughter are presently living in Afghanistan. My son is frequently asked by the Taliban if I have gone back to Afghanistan. I don’t know why they are still after me,” she wondered.
“My first husband is above eighty. I remarried after he divorced me. He wanted more children, but the doctor cautioned him that it was not feasible given his advanced age. Later, he sold everything he owned and I had nowhere to go. I then got married to a man of my choice. He is the one who brought me to India after the Taliban attacked me,” she professed.
“What should I do? There is no food to eat or a place to live. My kids and first husband fight a lot whenever they visit him after which they go to my mother. I speak to her occasionally but never with my father,” she vocalised.
She intends to relocate all of her children from Afghanistan. “They have hope that if I am still alive and residing in India, I will eventually meet them one day. All I want right now is to complete my adult blind training as soon as possible so I can start working and support myself. I wish to invite those three kids to India to live with me.”
She also discussed her story in an interview conducted in 2021.
Twenty years after being driven from power by American forces, the Taliban took back control of Afghanistan in 2021. They have oppressed women and minorities, violated human rights and neglected essential services during their ruthless regime.
