Mending A Nation

A good number of youngsters are striving to create the Kabul of their dreams

Mariam Atahi, 30, is what the locals will call a kalan-dari (maverick). She works with Save the Children, a charity that has now suspended operations after the attack on its Jalalabad centre. But her job is just one facet of her identity.

Atahi’s is one of those rare female heads in Kabul that is not covered with a hijab. “The constitution doesn’t say I should cover my head,” she says, tossing a mane of thick black hair over her shoulder. “I won’t do it to pander to some medieval male mindset. And I don’t care for the comments they hurl my way. They will learn to accept me as I am.”

Like most millennials in the city, Atahi spent a part of her childhood as a refugee in Pakistan. She is passionate about her country, and even as she is readying to leave for a master’s in the UK under the Chevening programme, she is adamant that she will return. The country needs her, and she needs her country. “Kabul is a magical city, all it needs is some peace,” says Atahi, who is also the cofounder of a group called Artlords (inspired by the word warlords). Comprising artists and art enthusiasts, the group paints graffiti on the grey barricades that surround sensitive areas (which is almost all of Kabul). The exercise is cathartic. The artwork rallies public opinion, spreads social messages (anti-corruption, family planning) and brightens up the stark cityscape. “Once, while we were painting, a burqa-clad woman came. She handed me her baby, took the brush from my hands and began painting,” recalls Atahi.