John Norgrove, the father of Scottish aid worker, Linda Norgrove, who was kidnapped by the Taliban and killed in 2010, has spoken out about the humanitarian disaster unfolding in Afghanistan.
Norgrove and his wife, Lorna, set up the Linda Norgrove Foundation after their daughter’s death to help girls and women in Afghanistan achieve their dreams of becoming doctors, teachers, lawyers, and surgeons.
However, since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021, women’s rights have been severely curtailed. Girls are banned from attending school past the sixth grade, and women are prohibited from working in most jobs.
Norgrove told The Press and Journal that the situation in Afghanistan is “on the slide” and that “hunger is the norm, jobs are scarce, and people feel oppressed by a minority.”
He added that “young women have been affected the most” by the Taliban’s restrictions. “With a population of more than 41 million and an incredible 50% aged 16 and under, more than 10 million girls are being denied an education beyond the age of 12,” Norgrove said.
The Norgroves are now working to provide emergency aid to women and children in Afghanistan. They have also proposed bringing 20 medical students to Scotland to finish their education.
Norgrove said that “help is needed now more than ever” in Afghanistan. “The current situation has few glimmers of hope for a nation which faces a very hungry and cold winter with no social support, a struggling health system, education denied to a population of girls twice that of the entire population of Scotland, and women without a man in their household prevented from earning money to feed their families,” he said.
