Two days before the Taliban swept into her home city of Kabul, Faiza Zeerak's mother bought her and her sister a chadari each.
The 22-year-old never expected to wear the garment, which covers her face. A lover of music, education and US TV series, the social worker falls firmly into Generation Z and feels completely at odds with the Taliban's ideology, which treats women as second-class citizens.
"When I wore it for the first time I felt so sad. It was as if I put a parcel on my head. I had to pull it down with my hands to see through that little net in the front," Ms Zeerak told The National from her home in Kabul.
It wasn't just her clothing she adjusted for her safety. On August 15, when the group took over the city, she fled her job at the charity she founded with her friends to go into hiding. The Kabul University graduate's ‘Smile for Afghan Kids’ charity caters for street children and orphans.
“I lost my job, I stopped my activities which I used to do for kids and youths. I couldn’t do anything! I am just hiding at home and I am still like prisoner,” she said.
Born in 1999 in the northern Baghlan province and then later moving with her family to the capital, she is part of a generation that differs from their elders, who experienced the 1996-2001 rule of the Taliban, brought down by a US invasion.
Back then, music was banned and women were all but erased from public life.
Everyone can see the way they deal with women, music and other basic human rights. All televisions stopped music shows and TV dramas, which are replaced with Islamic programmes.
Ms Zeerak
Afghanistan's under-25s, who make up almost two thirds of its 37 million people, have lived a very different life over the past 20 years.
“I am used to listening to music. I have a small black speaker in my room to listen to music. I listen to happy Afghan songs; I don’t like Bollywood music much but in Hollywood I only listen to the happy songs of Selena Gomez," says Ms Zeerak.
"I like watching movies, and American TV series. I had already downloaded some series such as The 100 and Humans to watch them when I am home.”
Now, her life is on a very different trajectory. The social worker has no doubt that the new freedoms that came with the US-led invasion that toppled Taliban 20 years ago are already being taken away or even lost.
She has taken the brave step of talking publicly about how her life, and that of thousands of Afghans, has changed. Seemingly without specific orders being given, people and corporations are already censoring their activities.
“Everyone can see the way they deal with women, music and other basic human rights. All televisions stopped music shows and TV dramas, which are replaced with Islamic programmes,” said Ms Zeerak, an amateur painter who loves drawing with water colours and pencil.
"Entertainment shows have completely vanished from the country. If women don’t work and are active in the society, I can’t think of a stable society only led by men."
Ms Zeerak said she knows a lot of men and women who live in fear of saying what they really think now under the Taliban.
There will be a pandemic of self-silencing, she said. She has already started doing this with her decision to wear the chadari. She fears that departing publicly from the ideology pushed by Taliban will eventually put her life in danger
Ms Zeerak thinks that the Taliban might have become more diplomatic and politically savvy in the way they want to present themselves in 2021 to the world.
But since August 15, the hardline group has been imposing strict rules and its militants have been roaming the streets to enforce the new order.
Just days after the Taliban takeover, images of women on billboards and in shops around Kabul were covered up or vandalised.
Although many women over the past four weeks returned to wearing a niqab or chadari even before the hardline group established new dress rules, others simply stopped going outside the home.
The Taliban haven't yet issued a specific dress code for all women across the country.
Then, on Sunday, Higher Education Minister Abdul Baqi Haqqani ordered gender segregation and mandatory hijabs in higher education. On the same day, a group of pro-Taliban women, reportedly mostly students, gathered at Shaheed Rabbani Education University in Kabul to express support for the country's new rulers.
My mum used to tell me about the atrocities of the Taliban from the 1990s. She bought burqas for me and my sister two days before Kabul fell into the Taliban’s hands.
Ms Zeerak
Taliban militants were also seen in social media posts using whips and sticks against a group of women protesting in Kabul last Tuesday following the announcement of a male-only government.
“We were a bit hopeful before they announced their government but after Taliban announced their cabinet, we have lost hope. They cancelled the ministry of women's affairs from their lists and that says a lot about their outlook towards women, and of course they don’t have any respect for women’s rights,” said Ms Zeerak.
The National’s calls and WhatsApp messages to Taliban spokesmen Zubiullah Mujahid and Suhail Shaheen to respond to questions for this article went unanswered.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Results
2.15pm: Maiden (PA) Dh40,000 1,200m
Winner: Maqam, Fabrice Veron (jockey), Eric Lemartinel (trainer).
2.45pm: Maiden (PA) Dh40,000 1,200m
Winner: Mamia Al Reef, Szczepan Mazur, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami.
3.15pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 2,000m
Winner: Jaahiz, Fabrice Veron, Eric Lemartinel.
3.45pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 1,000m
Winner: Qanoon, Szczepan Mazur, Irfan Ellahi.
4.15pm: Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Cup Handicap (TB) Dh200,000 1,700m.
Winner: Philosopher, Tadhg O’Shea, Salem bin Ghadayer.
54.45pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 1,700m
Winner: Jap Al Yassoob, Fernando Jara, Irfan Ellahi.
THE LOWDOWN
Romeo Akbar Walter
Rating: 2/5 stars
Produced by: Dharma Productions, Azure Entertainment
Directed by: Robby Grewal
Cast: John Abraham, Mouni Roy, Jackie Shroff and Sikandar Kher
What vitamins do we know are beneficial for living in the UAE
Vitamin D: Highly relevant in the UAE due to limited sun exposure; supports bone health, immunity and mood.
Vitamin B12: Important for nerve health and energy production, especially for vegetarians, vegans and individuals with absorption issues.
Iron: Useful only when deficiency or anaemia is confirmed; helps reduce fatigue and support immunity.
Omega-3 (EPA/DHA): Supports heart health and reduces inflammation, especially for those who consume little fish.
THE SIXTH SENSE
Starring: Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Hayley Joel Osment
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Rating: 5/5
The details
Heard It in a Past Life
Maggie Rogers
(Capital Records)
3/5
About Tenderd
Started: May 2018
Founder: Arjun Mohan
Based: Dubai
Size: 23 employees
Funding: Raised $5.8m in a seed fund round in December 2018. Backers include Y Combinator, Beco Capital, Venturesouq, Paul Graham, Peter Thiel, Paul Buchheit, Justin Mateen, Matt Mickiewicz, SOMA, Dynamo and Global Founders Capital
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Prop idols
Girls full-contact rugby may be in its infancy in the Middle East, but there are already a number of role models for players to look up to.
Sophie Shams (Dubai Exiles mini, England sevens international)
An Emirati student who is blazing a trail in rugby. She first learnt the game at Dubai Exiles and captained her JESS Primary school team. After going to study geophysics at university in the UK, she scored a sensational try in a cup final at Twickenham. She has played for England sevens, and is now contracted to top Premiership club Saracens.
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Seren Gough-Walters (Sharjah Wanderers mini, Wales rugby league international)
Few players anywhere will have taken a more circuitous route to playing rugby on Sky Sports. Gough-Walters was born in Al Wasl Hospital in Dubai, raised in Sharjah, did not take up rugby seriously till she was 15, has a master’s in global governance and ethics, and once worked as an immigration officer at the British Embassy in Abu Dhabi. In the summer of 2021 she played for Wales against England in rugby league, in a match that was broadcast live on TV.
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Erin King (Dubai Hurricanes mini, Ireland sevens international)
Aged five, Australia-born King went to Dubai Hurricanes training at The Sevens with her brothers. She immediately struck up a deep affection for rugby. She returned to the city at the end of last year to play at the Dubai Rugby Sevens in the colours of Ireland in the Women’s World Series tournament on Pitch 1.
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Scoreline
Liverpool 3
Mane (7'), Salah (69'), Firmino (90')
Bournemouth 0
