RASC News Agency: The Purple Saturdays Movement, in a recent statement, has declared that the Taliban represent a “grave threat to Afghanistan’s youth,” leading to an accelerated “brain drain” from the country. According to the statement, “Afghanistan, home to one of the youngest populations globally, has, with the Taliban’s return to power, become engulfed in profound crises affecting young people, particularly young women.”
The movement asserts that millions of Afghanistani youth have fallen victim to the Taliban’s “repressive” policies, with many perceiving “leaving the country” as their only means of survival. The statement emphasizes that over the course of the Taliban’s three-year rule, widespread human rights abuses, especially against women and youth, under the pretext of enforcing “Sharia law” and promoting “virtue” formalized through the so-called “Virtue Law” have fueled an alarming rise in “corruption, tribal favoritism, nepotism, unemployment, and poverty.”
Moreover, the movement highlights that the Taliban’s replacement of modern educational institutions with jihadist schools, coupled with their efforts to “Talibanize society,” has dangerously pushed Afghanistan toward cultural and social disintegration. The statement also notes that a pervasive sense of fear and uncertainty about the future, alongside the deterioration of mental health, including escalating rates of suicide among youth, has driven an unprecedented exodus of educated young people from the country.
The Purple Saturdays Movement further reports that many families are urging their children to flee the country to protect them from recruitment by “extremist groups such as the Taliban and ISIS,” which has fueled an unprecedented migration crisis. This crisis, according to the movement, threatens not only the future of Afghanistan’s youth but the very fate of the nation itself.
The movement has called upon the international community to refrain from recognizing the “self-declared Taliban regime” and to maintain the group’s status on the “terrorist organization” list. Additionally, they urge the global community to increase sanctions and pressure on the Taliban, while advocating for the establishment of a legitimate, democratic government in Afghanistan one where the youth can participate actively and meaningfully.
Finally, the Purple Saturdays Movement appeals to the people of Afghanistan to remain vigilant regarding the future of their children and the nation’s youth, stressing the importance of assuming their responsibilities in securing the future of the country’s next generation.
