Afghan Orchestra Finds Hope in Portugal

CATARINA DEMONY

When the Taliban seized power, Afghan musicians knew their futures were in jeopardy. Conductor Shogufa Safi, 18, escaped. Now in Portugal, her new home, she feels safe, but her dream is to return one day and bring music back to her country’s streets.

“I haven’t had peace in my life yet,” an emotional but hopeful Safi said after she landed in Portugal’s capital Lisbon along with 272 other members of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM), including students, staff, and relatives.

“My huge dream is to go back to Afghanistan…It’s a huge dream,” she said. “I believe that I’ll go back…and teach the younger generation.”

Safi is one of the musicians in Afghanistan’s renowned all-female orchestra Zohra, part of ANIM. They have played at some of the world’s major concert venues, from New York’s Carnegie Hall to Oman’s Royal Opera House.

Portugal has granted asylum to all ANIM’s members and their immediate families, making it the largest rescue operation of a self-contained Afghan community since August’s takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban, the music institute said.

Under the Taliban’s repressive 1996-2001 regime, music was banned. Although the hardline

Islamists have yet to formally reinstate the ban this time around, the Taliban have ordered radio stations to stop playing music in parts of Afghanistan.

As soon as Taliban insurgents took control, ANIM’s director and founder, Ahmad Sarmast, knew he had to get his students out of the country. They escaped to Qatar with the help of various donors before making their way to Portugal.

“I’m very happy to be in Portugal because I see all my friends smiling,” said another young conductor, Marzia Anwari. “They are the future of Afghanistan.”

Some young musicians stepped out of the commercial charter flight clutching new instruments, from drums to violins. Their old instruments stayed behind at ANIM’s campus in Kabul, now a Taliban command centre.

The future for music may look bleak in their homeland, but Sarmast is confident that now his students are safe, they will be able to not only pursue their artistic dreams but also keep Afghanistan’s rich musical heritage alive.

ANIM will reopen in Lisbon next year, and the group will return to big stages once they settle in.

“It will be impossible for the Taliban to silence the people of Afghanistan,” Sarmast said.

—Reuters

A GROUP OF AFGHANS THAT ESCAPED FROM KABUL ARE SEEN EXITING AN AIRPLANE AFTER ARRIVING AT LISBON, PORTUGAL. © REUTERS/PEDRO NUNES

Canada to Resettle Female Afghan Judges and Families Living in Limbo

ANNA MEHLER PAPERNY

Canada will take in female Afghan judges and their families who have been living in limbo since their evacuation from Afghanistan in the fall. In addition, Canada will resettle an unspecified number of Afghans from the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer communities who had been referred by a third-party aid organization, said a spokesperson for the immigration minister.

Since the Taliban took control of the country after the U.S. troop withdrawal in August,

Canada has resettled 3,915 Afghans with connections to the Canadian government and another 2,535 on humanitarian grounds, according to government figures.

Afghan women made great strides in the two decades since the Taliban last ruled the country from 1996 to 2001, joining previously all-male bastions such as the judiciary, the media, and politics.

“All the achievements of 20 years came back to zero within the blink of an eye,” said Freshta Masoni, a family court judge staying in Athens with her toddler daughters.

Since returning to power, the Taliban pledged to protect women’s rights in accordance with Islamic law, announcing a general “amnesty” for all former state workers. But advocates fear a backslide to when women were not allowed to work, and girls were banned from school.

Even if they can leave the country, Afghan asylum-seekers may face years of waits amid logistical backlogs and delays. Western countries usually resettle refugees referred by the UN refugee agency, which has limited capacity to process applications for resettlement.

“The biggest bottleneck there is the issue that referral partners in the region have not been able to ramp up capacity,” Canada’s immigration minister, Sean Fraser, told Reuters. “These challenges are going to take a little bit of time to sort out.”

Afghanistan’s refugee situation is different from the Syrian refugee crisis that galvanized the world several years ago, UN refugee agency officials and advocates say.

Unlike Syria, the Afghan crisis escalated rapidly during a global pandemic and many face difficulties leaving the

country. Those who do leave face additional waits, often in countries with little capacity to support them.

Some of the female judges, who have been living in Greece since October, told Reuters they have lacked health coverage because of their temporary visa status.

Advocates have called on countries to resettle Afghans without requiring a designation from the UNHCR or other NGOs, a step Canada has signalled it is open to.

—Reuters

AFGHAN LAWYER BIBI CHAMAN HAFIZI AND HER CHILDREN ARSHEYA AND DIANA ARE SEEN IN THE KITCHEN OF THEIR APARTMENT IN ATHENS, GREECE, OCTOBER 15, 2021. ©REUTERS/ALKIS KONSTANTINIDIS

AFGHAN LAWYER BIBI CHAMAN HAFIZI IN ATHENS, GREECE. © REUTERS/ALKIS KONSTANTINIDIS/FILE PHOTO