"If I am free and in Italy, not a slave of the Taliban in Afghanistan, it is only thanks to humanitarian corridors and the hospitality I received as a refugee in your country," said Samaneh Nasiri during a conference that took place on September 26 at the University of International Studies of Rome- Unint. The conference "Shelter and support" was dedicated to migrants and refugees.

Nasiri was a target of the Taliban because she studied at the American University founded in 2006 by her uncle Sharif Sayez, a former Minister of Higher Education in Afghanistan. It was the country's first private university.

From university studies to life as a prisoner

"I earned a university degree in business administration because I wanted to promote civil society, give equal rights to women and men, and create work opportunities for both, without distinction. But just before returning to power, on one of their websites the Taliban called my university a den of wolves and spies," she recalled during the speech.

When the Americans organized their withdrawal from Afghanistan, Samaneh tried to get out of the country, because she had documents to do so. But while she was at Kabul airport, the Taliban took power and used bombs to try and prevent flights from leaving.

"I was desperate, I cried and I had lost hope. I was a woman who had been independent until then. Suddenly I became a captive at home, I was hiding, living in the dark, desperate and depressed, fear used to take my breath, peace, and sleep away," she recalled.

All her efforts to escape failed, sometimes at the very last minute. "In the end, after a very long time, and four difficult attempts to flee, my brother who lived in Italy found a way. I was able to go to Pakistan, covered in black garments with a veil covering my face completely. I stayed in Pakistan for six months waiting for the Italian visa and I was then able to reach your country thanks to the humanitarian corridors. I was gifted with a new life," she commented.

Listen to women's voices

"Afghan women are strong and brave, they would like to fight against discrimination and the dictatorial regime of the Taliban but they are desperate, they can no longer go to school or university, they cannot go to the gym or to the park. They cannot even go to the hairdresser or go to work," continued Nasiri.

"They are all prisoners, prisoners in their own homes. Many of them risk their lives. To be a woman today in Afghanistan or in Iran is misery, and at the same time, it is an enormous challenge. Those of us who live outside Afghanistan, we are their voice. Please listen to it!" she concluded.

Paolo Ciani, Secretary of the Committee for Social Affairs in the Italian lower chamber of Parliament, who has been working for years with the Sant'Egidio Community, which operates humanitarian corridors, also spoke at the conference.

Ciani praised the idea of the corridors, saying that they had allowed Nasiri and thousands of others over the years to reach Italy and other safe countries. They are "the most significant initiative to date at the European level, and it was born in our country,", he concluded.