Angelina Jolie Uses Social Media To Shed Light On An Important Crisis
Angelina Jolie might be an Academy Award-winning actress and director with a string of box office hits to her name as she makes movies with a household full of children to mother, but she is also quite the humanitarian and takes that role as seriously as her others.
Jolie has worked with children's causes and began visiting refugee camps in other parts of the world when she was only in her 20s. Three of her children were adopted from other nations: Maddox was from Cambodia, Pax was from Vietnam, and Zahara was born in Ethiopia.
Jolie also gave birth to three children with her ex-husband Brad Pitt — Shiloh, Knox, and Vivienne.
With movies to make and kids to raise, it's amazing Jolie finds time for anything else, but she is also a Special Envoy to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. In that role, she meets with refugees in various nations, and people in need often reach out to her.
One such person moved Jolie so much that she shared the letter she received.
The actor is fighting for the women of Afghanistan
In 2021, when the United States removed its military presence from Afghanistan after two decades, the Taliban quickly took over the war-torn nation, setting back the advancements women made in that country while the U.S. was there and the Taliban was being held back.
With so many female refugees now fearing for their lives, one sent a letter to Angelina Jolie, asking that the world not forget the women of Afghanistan. While sharing the letter, Jolie also shared her feelings on Instagram.
"A young woman in #Afghanistan sent me this letter. I'm protecting her identity, but she hasn't been able to go back to school since the Taliban seized power," Jolie wrote. "Now, with women being arrested simply for taking part in peaceful protests, she writes 'I might never be able to go outside again or even be able to speak as I am a girl.'"
She then shared an excerpt from the letter, which reads: "I feel like women don't have any right to speak or put their word forward. The rights of the woman are taken away from them and they are not allowed to do anything in the country."
The young Afghan woman recalled how two outspoken women had recently been arrested by the Taliban. "I just thought, that this is the end and I might never be able to go outside again or even be able to speak as I am a Girl," the letter stated.
Angelina Jolie reminds us what is still happening in Afghanistan
While the media has moved onto other topics after focusing on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, Angelina Jolie has done her best to make sure the women there are not forgotten — both through her position as a United Nations Special Envoy and via social media, where she has more than 12 million followers.
Alongside the excerpt from the letter she received from an Afghan woman, Jolie also posted a slideshow of names belonging to women who have been taken by the Taliban since the group took over.
Jolie also added her own message in the slide show, writing, "Please track what is happening in Afghanistan, where young women are being taken from their homes at night at gunpoint and disappeared, and new restrictions are being imposed on the freedom of women and girls day by day. Please help ensure they're not forgotten."