Afghan singer Aryana Sayeed recalls harrowing escape from Kabul

'I got lucky to get out of Afghanistan. But what about the rest of the people that are there?' Aryana Sayeed asks. Photo: Handout

An Afghan singer who has used her international fame to amplify calls for women's rights wore an all-enveloping veil to escape her homeland as the Taliban took Kabul.

Aryana Sayeed has divided her time between Turkey, Britain and Afghanistan and had been in Kabul in recent months to start a clothing business. She told Reuters in a weekend interview she received a call on Aug 14 warning her that the Taliban were closing in on the capital. When the Taliban last held power from 1996 to 2001, they brutally enforced an interpretation of Sunni Islam that banned women from work and school.