'I want Afghan women to be free to wear colour'

As part of the BBC's 100 Women series, we asked four women leaders to exchange letters with four women from Afghanistan who share their profession or passion.

Here, fashion icon Halima Aden hears from Afghan university tutor Aliya Kazimy, who writes about how the Taliban takeover changed the way women were allowed to dress.

.Aliya Kazimy graduated in 2020. She worked as a university teacher until earlier this year, when she fled Afghanistan and resettled in the US.

Dear Halima,

Seeing the beauty of an array of different colours always made me happy. I liked black a lot, but that was before I knew I would be condemned to wearing it. Just imagine for a moment that you do not have the right to choose the length or colour of your outfit, how would you feel? You wouldn't feel independent.

It's not just about the length of our dresses, it's about the rights we fought for and the lives that were sacrificed over the years to get where we are.

The right to choose how to dress is a basic right. I am not against wearing the hijab, I love the hijab, but I am against being forced to wear one, just as I am against being forced to unveil. It seems intolerable to me that anyone could interfere in such a personal choice, just because I'm a woman.

Being denied this is just a fraction of what women in Afghanistan are going through - they are being deprived of the right to education, to work, and to other civil rights. As I write this letter, my heart aches for my people.

I remember that as a child I would sing songs of peace, and we would imagine a beautiful future. I remember when the Taliban fell, and we went to school for the first time: that was a day of celebration for me and all the girls in the street. I remember how people's faces beamed with happiness as they thought the war was over. That day we felt like the luckiest girls.

I never thought that the dark days would return. I say this because I want you to know about the real situation of girls in Afghanistan, so you understand that after endless struggle, they are now prisoners. We progressed for 20 years and now we have gone back to zero.

Here in the United States, even though I know I am safe, my soul is still distressed, with every explosion or suicide attack that happens in Afghanistan my mind suddenly turns to how many people were killed or wounded.

I've dreamed of studying at Harvard since I was a teenager, and now that I'm in the US I know I can achieve every single one of my dreams and build a better future. It's a beautiful feeling. But my heart beats for Afghanistan, its people, and my family.

I wish for peace, a world without war.

Aliya

Fashion icon Halima Aden was the first hijab-wearing supermodel. She has stepped away from modelling, but continues to make an impact within the fashion industry.

Dear Aliya,

As I am writing to you my heart goes out to all the girls and women of Afghanistan. I can relate in some ways to the issues you are facing, having been a child refugee myself when my family escaped the Somali civil war. I'm known as the first hijab-wearing model, and I've graced catwalks and front pages of fashion publications. But my story started in Kakuma in Kenya, one of the world's largest refugee camps.

I walked away from the fashion industry because I was doing things that didn't align with my beliefs, including wearing jeans on my head in substitute of a hijab. I appreciate I have been in a very blessed position to be able to walk away.

People should not be policing our bodies - it's a human rights violation. Whether it's a country voting to outlaw the headscarf in public places for minors, or rules prohibiting you wearing one to your workplace or mandating a woman wear the veil or the hijab - I think it's wrong.

I can't imagine being a woman who doesn't wear the hijab and then having to be forced to wear one. I chose to wear the hijab and if I was ever placed in a position where I had to pick between my career and the hijab, I'd pick the hijab.

When I think about you and your friends having to hide a once colourful wardrobe, I would say keep a piece for you, keep it in a place where only you know, keep it for the day that you can wear that outfit again. To the women who don't have the choice right now - my heart is with you. A better tomorrow is what we are all praying for.

Being a refugee is hard, sometimes it feels like the world has forgotten or is turning a blind eye. But there are so many empathetic hearts that are tuning in, people who despite not being from the same culture are doing their best to educate themselves.

My message to the families who have made the difficult decision to leave is to not think you are leaving your country behind, you are taking it with you wherever you go. Hopefully through the people you get to meet, you will get to introduce your culture to others and that's how it'll live on.

I want to see Afghanistan return to prosperity, where people are guaranteed their freedoms and women are able to wear what they choose. We are here, the world hasn't forgotten about Afghanistan.

All best,

Halima

Produced by Georgina Pearce, Lara Owen, Kawoon Khamoosh, Zuhal Ahad. Edited by Valeria Perasso. Illustrations by Jilla Dastmalchi. Additional visuals by Joy Roxas. Video produced by Rebecca Thorn, with animations by James Mobbs.

BBC 100 Women names 100 influential and inspirational women around the world every year. Follow BBC 100 Women on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Join the conversation using #BBC100Women.