A Woman’s Forced Marriage in Post-Invasion Afghanistan, in “Hills and Mountains”
An accusation levelled against a teen-age girl changes the course of her life, in Salar Pashtoonyar’s documentary about life after the Soviet-Afghan war.
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00:30I was born in a remote village.
00:33Before me, my parents had six children.
00:36For them, my birth was a dream come true.
00:43We had a good life until the war broke out.
00:49I was ten years old when on Christmas Eve,
00:5219 of them took to the streets of Afghanistan.
00:56The lives of Afghans changed forever.
01:01Every family took part in the war against the Russians.
01:04My two brothers, Akram and Habib,
01:06who were 21 and 22 years old,
01:09took part in the war to defend our country.
01:14My two brothers have been missing
01:16since the morning on Friday
01:18when they left the house's wooden door.
01:23Before the war, Afghanistan was one of the most
01:26free and peaceful countries in Asia.
01:29For decades, foreigners from America, Canada and Germany
01:33traveled to this country by land.
01:37But after the Russian occupation,
01:39everything changed.
01:41In the first years of the war,
01:43about one million people were killed.
01:46All the food sources were cut off.
01:49One of the effects of the war
01:51was the marriage of underage girls.
01:55I think at that time,
01:57underage girls were more likely to die
02:00because of starvation.
02:04When I was 15 years old,
02:06my underage daughters were either married or dead
02:09or missing.
02:12I promised my father
02:14not to marry me until I was ready to get married.
02:19But in the past,
02:21there were more problems in Afghanistan.
02:24People died of starvation
02:26or because of violence.
02:29Foreigners would give weapons
02:31to Afghanistan instead of ending the war
02:33to continue the war.
02:35My father had no choice
02:37but to transfer us to a safer place.
02:42We fled the mountains and mountains
02:44on foot to Tajikistan.
02:47Sometimes I think
02:49I wish we had never left Afghanistan.
02:53We lived in a large Afghan family.
02:57The wife of this family
02:59accused me of having an illicit relationship
03:01with her brother-in-law.
03:05She said I was with her brother-in-law
03:07and that she had seen me with him.
03:11I don't know if she hated me
03:13or wanted her brother-in-law to cause her problems.
03:17My brothers wanted to kill me
03:19because of a shameful act
03:21that I had never committed.
03:27My father felt ashamed
03:29among the people.
03:31I was so ashamed.
03:34I cried all night
03:36and stayed awake
03:38because I was afraid
03:40my brothers would kill me.
03:43They agreed to marry me
03:45even though I didn't want to.
03:48I begged them not to marry me
03:50because I didn't want to force them
03:52to marry me because of an accusation.
03:59I was infamous
04:01and no one would accept me.
04:06My mother was afraid
04:08that my brothers would kill me
04:10and send me to prison.
04:13I would have to wear a wedding dress
04:15or a shroud.
04:20That's why I said
04:22I would marry a man
04:24who was accused of having an illicit relationship with me.
04:28That's why my father
04:30believed that I had an illicit relationship with him.
04:34My father never understood
04:36why I wanted to marry him.
04:40I thought my reasons
04:42wouldn't work
04:44and my father would never believe me.
04:55An infamous woman
04:57cannot marry anyone
04:59or be forgiven.
05:02I was very sad
05:04on my wedding day.
05:06My entire family was depressed.
05:11I didn't feel like it was my wedding day.
05:15I felt like it was my funeral.
05:19I realized how difficult life can be
05:22when you're accused of something.
05:29Family hatred is more difficult
05:31than punishment and even murder.
05:41I felt like I deserved to die
05:43because my father was angry with me.
05:50I was afraid that if I married someone else
05:53my family would have the same attitude
05:56as I did.
06:01I was happy
06:03that I married a man
06:05who was accused of having an illicit relationship with me.
06:08You know very well
06:10that all of this is an unjust accusation.
06:13An unjust accusation.
06:16Even though my life was not good,
06:19my husband never accepted my family.
06:22We lived with all the problems
06:24and hatred from my family.
06:33In 1989, I heard on the radio
06:36that the Red Crescent had left Afghanistan.
06:41It was a good news for me.
06:43It was a good news for me
06:45because I could go back to my homeland
06:47without any hesitation.
06:50I was able to bring back
06:52my childhood memories
06:54and the bright future.
06:57One year after the defeat
06:59and the exit of the Red Crescent
07:01we returned to Afghanistan.
07:03Afghanistan was no longer the same
07:05but I had changed a lot.
07:10Finally, my father realized
07:12that I was innocent
07:14but it was too late.
07:17I had lost my husband
07:19as a result of internal wars
07:21and I was a widow.
07:25Sometimes I think to myself
07:28that if they didn't doubt me
07:30and believed my words
07:32I would have lived a different life.
08:02For more information visit www.fema.gov