Activist Who Worked Under Taliban Says Time to Help Afghanistan Is Running Out

WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES – Early this month, the Dutch Government awarded its prestigious Geuzenpenning to the activist and social entrepreneur from Afghanistan, Laila Haidari. This week, Haidari, who arrived in the Netherlands in early March after nearly three years of living in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan received the award in person.

When Kabul fell to the Taliban, most of the people who had a voice and recognition in Afghanistan decided to flee, concluding that it was impossible to work under the Taliban regime. Hundreds of thousands of the country’s youngest and brightest ended up in military camps turned into refugee shelters in Qatar, Germany, the US and elsewhere.