Afghan girl says “no one cares about us” as Taliban take control

The footage has been shared widely online.

A video of a young Afghan girl sharing her fears for the future has gone viral. “I cannot help crying," says the girl in the clip. "I have to wipe my tears to be able to film this video. No one cares about us. We’ll die slowly in history. “We don't count because we were born in Afghanistan [...] Isn’t it funny?" Posted on Twitter by Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad, the heartbreaking footage has since been shared widely across social media. The video was also shared by The Kite Runner author Khaled Hosseini. https://twitter.com/khaledhosseini/status/1426660888874950658?s=20 This comes as the Taliban have made major advances across Afghanistan in recent days, taking control of the country's key cities almost two decades after being ousted. Prior to this, the fundamentalist group banned women and girls from getting an education, from working, or from travelling without a male relative present. Countless women have since expressed a fear to the return of this regime, with many living in Kabul now hiding in their homes amidst the takeover of the capital. “I can’t go out and I know I’m not safe here. The Taliban will kill me. They don’t like women like me," athlete and women's advocate Nilofar Bayat told VICE. “I had a comfortable and good life. I continued my work, duties, and sports as usual. I used to go out without any fear and followed my daily plans,” Zainab Hussaini told VICE World News. Zarmina Kakar, a women’s rights activist, told AP News: “I feel we are like a bird who makes a nest for a living and spends all the time building it, but then suddenly and helplessly watches others destroy it." Marianne O’Grady, deputy country director for CARE International, told the publication that despite the takeover, “You can’t un-educate millions of people." She said that if women and girls "are back behind walls and not able to go out as much, at least they can now educate their cousins and their neighbours and their own children in ways that couldn’t happen 25 years ago.”