NYU must say NO to Shkula Zadran's victim blaming of a Taliban official's rape victim

The Issue

Dear NYU,

We are writing this letter to direct your attention to the recent disturbing statements a student at NYU, Shkula Zadran, has made on Twitter.

We are all a witness to the suffering the people of Afghanistan are enduring due to the long list of Taliban human rights violations and acts of terrorism. Zadran's statements targeting Elaha Delawarzai, an ex-medical student at Kabul University who was forcibly married to senior Taliban official Qari Saeed Khosty, shocked everyone in the community. During this forced marriage Delawarzai suffered months of rape, sexual torture, and prison detention. Khosty is linked to the terrorist Haqqani Network* and is a former spokesman for the Taliban Ministry of Interior affairs. After Delawarzai's 156 days of prison detention in Kabul, where she endured terrible torture, Elaha finally managed to escape Afghanistan in April this year.

In recently posted and now deleted tweets, Zadran attacks Elaha Delawarzai with an accusatory tone claiming that she has 'made up the rape and forced marriage story' and casts doubt on her credibility. Zadran based her accusations on a fabricated audio tape that was circulated online by Taliban supporters, despite Elaha's ordeal being verified by various international institutions. Shkula Zadran continued to attack Elaha Delawarzai in support of the Taliban, by accusing her of ruining not only Saeed Khosty's reputation but also that of the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” (IEA).

Zadran's statements reveal that she blames the victim based on her Taliban apologist views. The world has witnessed the Taliban’s system of gender apartheid and while it seems inconceivable that an Afghan woman would support the Taliban, Zadran's views are rooted in the fact that she overlooks the human rights of women in favor of her tribal and ideological allegiance to the Taliban. In fact, Zadran has stated in an interview that she is willing to work with the Taliban, while claiming to have fled from that same Taliban.

We strongly believe that Shkula Zadran's statements are not in line with the values your respected institution upholds. While she got the chance to pursue her higher education at NYU due to the Taliban ban on female education, she knowingly spread false Taliban propaganda and defends a rapists reputation. We therefore ask for her removal from NYU as the appropriate solution and for her Afghan Crisis Scholarship spot to be given to someone who actually has fled the Taliban and does not support them. This will demonstrate that NYU has zero tolerance for justifying Taliban atrocities against women and firmly condemn it.

We thank you in advance and look forward to your response and action on this matter.

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*The Haqqani Network, founded by members of the Zadran tribe, is considered the most lethal insurgent group targeting the US.

Deleted tweets can be found below.

Links:

News article of The Independent about Elaha Delawarzai

https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/south-asia/elaha-delawarzai-taliban-afghanistan-prison-b2369554.html

Article of Human Rights Watch about Elaha Delawarzai

https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/09/01/justiceforelaha-takes-taliban-violence-against-women

Shkula Zadran’s interview post August 2021

https://news.trust.org/item/20210818164528-st8a6/

Elaha Delawarzai’s Twitter account