One of the female law students filing for JURIST from Taliban-ruled Afghanistan has written the following open letter to law students in the United States. We are publishing it here in its entirety with minimal editing, so as to preserve the author’s voice.

I’m writing from 7000 miles away from you.
Yes, I’m writing from Afghanistan, the country of misery.

Hello my dear friends.
I’m a law student, who has dreams like yours but does not have your opportunities.
I know you are familiar with the dreams of a law student, but you may not be familiar with the failure of our dreams.
In this letter I want to tell you about our failures, how all our dreams were set on fire.

I’m a girl, I am a law student who was about to graduate when Afghanistan fell.
Over the years, I had overcome the existing challenges so that one day I could serve my country, work for the rights of its people.
During all these years, I studied hard, read different books, researched, built capacity, participated in national and international programs, presented a job creation plan for the youths and women to the government, learned three foreign languages… all so that one day I could fight for the rights of my country and my people.

It was all effort, but as I was about to pass through the final stage, the Taliban terrorist group set fire to all my efforts and locked me and my fellow human beings at home.
They closed the doors of the university to me, where I strived and grew, where I spoke of law, justice and freedom. But now there is no law, no justice, no freedom.
My university was my second home. but now at the entrance to my second home stand my freedom-killers with their horrific guns and bloodshot eyes.

Let me tell you a story. I went to university one day, and when I approached the front door, fear and panic filled my whole being. I did not know how to get past the guards, but I did not give up, I moved ahead and walked in. The sight of their horrible guns, with which hundreds of innocent people had been killed, hurt my soul, their looking with eyes overflowing with violence still hurt me a lot.

But that was not the whole story. When I arrived at the law school, I saw that the walls were empty. The Taliban had ordered that the photos of all the female students and female professors be removed from the school wall. They even erased a painting of Afghan female poet Rabia Balkhi from the wall. At that moment, I felt defeated, The students who had brought honor to this college with their efforts, now not even their picture is on the walls here. I felt very bad; from that point I understood the depth of the tragedy that had befallen us.

I realized that the Taliban have not changed and will never change. They are trying to suppress me, to suppress all of us.

I can’t study, I can’t graduate, I can’t work, I can’t even exist but still I’m fighting.

I’m fighting for my dreams. It’s true they have the weapons, but I’m also armed. I have my pen. I am sure that I will win this battle. Because my pen is stronger than their guns.

My dear friends, you are law students like me, you can feel my pains, you can understand me and all my fellow human beings.

Always speak for justice and be thankful for your opportunities.
Law students are the only ones who can bring justice.
We will make the world a better place.

My dear friends,
Please be our voice, be the voice of justice. Make our voices heard, let the world know about this injustice. Please join us so that our voice reaches other countries, international organizations and the United Nations.

“We want to study,
We want to work, We want to be free,
We want to exist.”