The Afghan Mona Lisa

An Epic of the Unvoiced and Anonymous Women of Afghanistan

The Afghan woman has been spoken for, depicted in numerous ways since the fall of the Taliban in 2011. Afghan women have been represented in the Western media, both in the television and the news broadcast copiously. They have made the Times magazine cover page, revealed in the National Geographic, and have been pronounced as victims of womans rights. Their crime simply being born in Afghanistan as a woman in an era unfavorable to their gender. I have investigated and listened to long hours of heartbreaking stories by Afghan women in numerous countries, conversed with old and young women, and read plentiful anecdotes of Afghan womens narratives around the world for over ten years. Although I cannot claim what they have experienced completely, I have exerted years of love inscribing for them their narratives, their depiction of what took place in their lives, as well as their interpretation of their struggles and daily burdens. Although they are my words, nevertheless they represent their rightful voice. While it is my pen that was used to write these poems, in every poem, in every verse, it is the fighting potency of these women. And we witness through their lens the long-suffering echoed throughout the book in their own words. I am blessed to have been favored as an unassuming envoy for their voices.