A Somali-American influencer, who shares her travel experiences as a Black Muslim woman, has been facing flak on social media after her recent visit to Afghanistan. Marian Abdi, who is famously known as Geenyada Madow, said that visiting this Asian country was a “dream come true” for her. Not only that, Abdi even posted a picture of herself smiling next to Taliban fighters armed with AK-47s, which didn’t go down well with the Internet users.
While sharing the now-viral picture on the microblogging platform X (formerly Twitter), Abdi wrote, “Met with the Taliban.” The picture shows Abdi flashing a smile with the Taliban armed with AK-47s.
Met with the Tali*an #Afghanistan #afghan #kabul #travel #explore #viral #viral2024 pic.twitter.com/EidJwZ0y0y— Geenyada Madow (@GeenyadaM) August 18, 2024
Amid the controversy surrounding her, Abdi responded to her critics by posing a series of questions on social media addressing their concerns about the photo.
“I’m genuinely curious – what do you want me to do? Should I avoid visiting Afghanistan altogether? How do you expect a tourist to navigate politics with the Taliban? Even if I didn’t take a photo with them, would that change anything? As a foreign tourist, I’m just interested in seeing the country. Yes, a lot is happening, but is that my fault? Other YouTubers have created content there, so why am I treated differently? And why bring race into this? What should a content creator do – avoid Afghanistan entirely?” wrote Abdi on X.
I'm genuinely curious—what do you want me to do? Should I avoid visiting Afghanistan altogether? How do you expect a tourist to navigate politics with the Taliban? Even if I didn’t take a photo with them, would that change anything? As a foreign tourist, I'm just interested in… pic.twitter.com/ODpKd2qlry— Geenyada Madow (@GeenyadaM) August 22, 2024
The Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in August 2021 after the collapse of the US-backed government which ruled the country for 20 years following the 9/11 attacks. The Taliban’s return to power has significantly impacted the country, particularly women, so much so that the United Nations has labelled it as “gender apartheid”.
Recently, the Taliban issued a set of “vice and virtue” guidelines that place severe restrictions on women. These restrictions include a ban on women speaking or showing their faces in public, a prohibition on women singing or reading aloud even from within their homes, and a requirement for women to avoid direct eye contact with men they are not related to. Additionally, taxi drivers are now restricted from transporting women without a male escort.
Comments
0 comment