Abdi additionally confronted backlash for sharing varied images and movies from her go to to Afghan cities
A journey influencer is dealing with backlash for “fangirling” over Taliban fighters throughout a visit to Afghanistan, coinciding with a lady’s sentencing to demise by stoning and the continued denial of fundamental rights to hundreds of thousands of girls and women within the nation.
Somali American influencer Marian Abdi, identified on-line as Geenyada Madow, was criticised for expressing pleasure on Instagram about visiting Afghanistan, calling it a “dream come true,” as reported by Afghan newspaper 8 AM Media.
“This nation is recovering from 40 years of warfare and turmoil. Over the following few days, I’ll share my experiences right here in Afghanistan, together with insights into the individuals, the meals, and the general tradition,” Abdi wrote on August 13, alongside a photograph of herself in entrance of an “I coronary heart Afghanistan” signal.
Abdi additionally confronted backlash for sharing varied images and movies from her go to to Afghan cities, which highlighted the grim actuality of Afghanistan underneath Taliban rule, the place she was typically the one lady seen alongside male locals.
Criticism intensified after Abdi posted a picture on X, previously Twitter, the place she posed smiling with Taliban members armed with AK-47s. Afghan girls and activists questioned whether or not Abdi had confronted the Taliban about their remedy of girls, together with stoning them and barring them from schooling.
Met with the Tali*an 🇦🇫 #Afghanistan#afghan#kabul#travel#explore#viral#viral2024pic.twitter.com/EidJwZ0y0y
— Geenyada Madow (@GeenyadaM) August 18, 2024
“In a time when Afghan women and girls are disadvantaged of their most elementary rights, it’s deeply troubling and unacceptable to see somebody like Geenyada Madow, who has gone to Afghanistan and lobbies for the Taliban,” mentioned Niloofar Naeimi, a human rights activist targeted on Afghan girls’s points.
“This motion disregards the struggling and ache of hundreds of thousands of Afghan girls who face oppression and persecution underneath the Taliban’s rule,” Naeimi added.
One other activist, Nilofar Ayoubi, a former chief of the Ladies Motion, condemned the influencer’s insensitive behaviour, stating within the 8 AM article, “An Afghan lady has been sentenced to be executed by stoning whereas Miss Madow fangirls over the Taliban.”
“Whereas her go to to Afghanistan and her content material creation about our nation and tradition are extremely appreciated, what just isn’t welcomed, and appalling, is the image she’s portray of the Taliban!” Ayoubi continued.
In one in every of her YouTube movies, Abdi described her interplay with Taliban fighters, admitting she was “tremendous nervous” and noting that she wasn’t allowed to document their dialog.
“I used to be tremendous nervous, I’m confused… the truth that they’d even permit me to speak to them. I could not document our dialog as a result of they would not permit me and my battery died. They requested me the place I’m from as they’ll see I am a foreigner,” Abdi defined in her video.
“I mentioned I am Somali; they’re like, okay, are you from the West? I mentioned sure, I am from America. They’re like, okay, welcome,” she recounted.
Abdi additionally claimed that she requested the Taliban why Afghan women and girls had been denied an schooling past sixth grade and obtained blended responses, with one fighter stating, “We’re a brand new nation… new authorities and issues will change… the whole lot takes time.”
Defending her photograph with the Taliban on X, Abdi wrote, “I requested for a photograph, and I did take a photograph with them, and I posted it on Twitter, and it is simply outrage – persons are going loopy, [saying] ‘Disgrace on you, you are in opposition to girls’s rights, girls’s schooling, girls’s jobs.'”
“That is not the case – this photograph was simply to easily say that is my expertise, that is what I noticed, that is how they handled me,” she mentioned, including, “I’m for all girls’s rights and I’d like to see in the future girls getting educations and dealing and the whole lot, and I do perceive my privileges, you understand, however please do not take the whole lot out of context.”
“I am posting so many lovely issues about Afghanistan, the tradition, the individuals – do not choose me for one photograph,” she concluded.
The Taliban regained management of Afghanistan in 2021, simply weeks earlier than the US was set to finish its troop withdrawal after a pricey two-decade warfare. Since returning to energy, the Taliban has imposed extreme restrictions on girls, denying them entry to public areas, schooling, jobs, and different fundamental rights. Regardless of preliminary guarantees of a extra reasonable rule, the Taliban continues to implement harsh punishments, together with public stoning of girls for adultery.
Â
Click on for extra trending information