An Indian woman identified as Ankita Kumar went on an extraordinary solo travel journey to Afghanistan, and her experience has since sparked curiosity and attention on the internet.Posting videos from her trip on Instagram, she has gained significant attention. In one video, she shared, "I'm travelling alone in Afghanistan and my parents have no idea." The video shows her meeting Afghan women, interacting with people carrying guns, and engaging with individuals from different walks of life.In the caption of another post, she described her experience of travelling through the country. She wrote, “Mummy, Papa, I am fine.” A sentence I must have said a hundred times in Afghanistan. Because every day felt like an adventure. And every day carried
a risk my parents could see more clearly than I could. Afghanistan taught me something I didn’t expect: that two completely different truths can exist at the same time and you have no option but to hold them. It is one of the most breathtaking countries I have ever seen. A place of impossible mountains, endless cups of chai, generosity from strangers, and warmth that stays with you long after you’ve left.She further wrote, “And it is also a place carrying the weight of decades of conflict. You can see it in the buildings. You can see it in the stories people tell. You can see it in faces that seem to have aged far faster than they should have. You can fall in love with a country and still grieve for what its people have endured. You can accept their kindness and grieve for the women still there. You can be overwhelmed by the warmth of its people while recognizing that many, especially women, navigate realities and restrictions that most of us can barely imagine. That’s what wrecked me. Not because Afghanistan was different from what I expected, but because it refused to be just one thing. It was beautiful and heartbreaking. Hopeful and heavy. Welcoming and complicated. And somewhere between all those contradictions, it became the adventure of a lifetime. Mummy, Papa — I really was fine.”
In another video from Afghanistan, she spoke about the current condition of women in the country under strict rules and restrictions.Sharing the video, in which she is seen interacting with Afghan women, she wrote, “I’d rather die than be born a woman in Afghanistan.” It’s a sentence I’ve heard many people say. And after learning more about the realities women face here, I understand where that sentiment comes from. Girls are barred from studying beyond sixth grade. Many women have been pushed out of jobs, public life and opportunities they once had. Child marriage has risen as families struggle with poverty and uncertainty. Domestic violence laws have become weak. Everyday decisions that many of us take for granted have become negotiations with a system designed to limit freedom for half its population. And yet, what struck me most wasn’t despair. It was courage.She further wrote, “The kind that rarely makes headlines. Because when public protest can be met with intimidation, detention or violence, resistance often becomes quieter. It becomes the decision to keep learning when education is denied. To keep creating when your world is shrinking. To keep dreaming when you’re constantly told to make yourself smaller. @faiqah.tm is a 23-year-old, smart, self-aware female guide. @khatinzar.gallery makes art and runs a beautiful gallery supporting women. @vision__university, run by a 21-year-old woman, is an online university that educates 12,000 young girls up to university level so they can study beyond the 6th grade. These women I met were finding ways to carve out dignity, purpose, and joy wherever they could. I don’t want to romanticize their struggle. None of this should be normal. None of it should be necessary. But I left Afghanistan with enormous respect for women whose bravery isn’t measured by grand gestures, but by the fact that they keep showing up every single day. Sometimes courage isn’t standing in front of a crowd. Sometimes courage is simply refusing to disappear.”
Her journey went viral, and even
Dhurandhar actor Mustafa Ahmad responded to the videos, writing, “I thank you for putting this out so beautifully. So bravely and with such empowerment.”
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