How 14 Afghan youth in India hope to weave a better future back home

Her picture must not be seen in her country, pleads 22-year-old Aisha Ibrahim (name changed), as we talk to her. An Afghan national, she fears violent action from the Taliban if her picture is found on a website or any other public platform.

“You cannot imagine what they can do to my family,” she says, looking at a blank wall, as if she can see the scenes of torture playing out on them. (Hear the complete interview here:

Part of a batch of fourteen youths from Afghanistan, she is in New Delhi for a three-month course in embroidery and stitching.

An initiative of the Indian embassy in Afghanistan, the course objective is to impart skills to Afghan youth to enhance their employment potential in their native country. Ibraham’s is the first batch to come to India under the program.

An under-graduate student in Kabul Education University, Ibrahim knows that she lives in extraordinary circumstances- good education for women in Afghanistan is no guarantee for a job. She is enrolled with the department of language and literature in the University. Yet, as a back-up plan, she is learning the craft in India along with the group, which besides her consists of three girls and ten men.

“This is a hunar (skill). It can get me job. They will not ask my qualification,” said Ibrahim, who had obtained a Fulbright scholarship, but could not pursue it.

“Everything was fine as long as I just wanted the scholarship. But the day I actually got it, my parents got worried. The Taliban would have troubled them and my relatives had I pursued that scholarship.

Every time someone wants to do something progressive, they get to know about it and make sure that they don’t let it happen,” she said, visibly angry over not being able to pursue her dream.

In 2005, Ibrahim lost her father when a suicide bomber struck outside the office of the Ministry of Defence where he was posted.

However, she says that things are much better in the capital, Kabul, where she lives, as compared to other provinces. Her mother, for instance, is a qualified teacher and works with a neighbourhood school.

But one of Aisha’s aunts, a resident of Maidan Wardak- a province in central east region of Afghanistan- is also a teacher. She cannot go to work because of instructions from the Taliban, she says.

“One day they told her that they would burn her alive if she is seen anywhere around the school. She is home since then,” said Ibrahim, who also aspires to be a teacher.

The threat from the Taliban is the reason, she said, that other than her immediate family in Kabul, none of her relatives are aware of her current stay in India.

Irrespective of their age, all fourteen members of the group have a rough idea and an opinion about the developments in their country: America is a friend, it is helping in rebuilding the wrecked nation; India has continuously provided aid, UN agencies are present in the region with a noble cause, the Taliban pose hurdles to all good work.

Sunjey Aggrawal, managing director and founder of Internaational School of Design, New Delhi, which is training the Afghan youths, says he got a sense of the problem faced by them much before the programme began.

“Initially, I was told that around 100 people would be coming. But gradually, the numbers dwindled and was reduced to fourteen,” he says.

Only three of the fourteen can speak either Hindi or English. But that is not a barrier when it comes to training, said Aggrawal.

“They pay attention when the trainers give demonstrations. And when there is a need to communicate through words, trainers tell it to the three and they translate it others,” he said.

The real challenge, he says is the security of the batch.

“These people belong to 13 to 23 age group. Their families have sent them to India with a confidence and conviction that they would return home with some skills. If something goes wrong, I will have to answer,” he says.

As of now, the gang of fourteen is enjoying the trip, occasionally attempting to sing Hindi songs close to perfection.

Parvez, one of the members of the batch, has mastered quite a few Hindi songs. ‘Mera mulk, mera desh, mera ye chaman’ is an all time favourite with Parvez, who is a commando with the Afghan National Army for last five years. In the last three years, two of his brothers, who were also commandos, have died.

“One was murdered by the Taliban. The other one died in a blast,” he said. The deaths left Parvez as the sole bread earner in the family of seven in Kabul. ( Watch the entire interview here )

An expert in combat operations, he is on a three-month break to learn embroidery, a skill most commandos don’t normally learn.

“After my brothers died, both my parents want me to leave army. If I get to learn this skill, I will quit army. Otherwise, let us see,” he shrugged.

For 18-year-old Hikmatullah Rehmani, the India visit can translate into good earnings back home. After honing his skill in stitching, Rehmani wants to assist his elder brother who has a cloth shop in Kabul. Living in Afghanistan, Rehmani said he had learnt so much about India that he felt at home here. And his knowledge of India mainly comes from cricket and television soap operas, given the women in his family would watch serials like Kumkum and Kyunki Saans Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi.

“MSD is the best cricketer in the world. No doubt it,” he said. ( Watch the interview with him here )