Angelina Jolie shares heartbreaking letter from Afghan girl: 'Help ensure they're not forgotten'

Angelina Jolie is urging her fans and social media followers to stay informed of the atrocities being committed in Afghanistan. The 46-year-old actress and humanitarian took to Instagram on Saturday to share a personal letter she received from a young woman in the country. "I'm protecting her identity, but she hasn't been able to go back to school since the Taliban seized power. 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,'" the 'Maleficent' star wrote.

Jolie then shared another extract from the young woman's letter, parts of which were blurred out so as not to reveal her identity. "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. Few weeks back when the Taliban arrested 2 of the women who raised their voices in order to ask for the rights of women and freedom, 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 unidentified woman wrote.

In her post, Jolie also highlights women's rights activists who've gone "missing" in Afghanistan under the Taliban government and the dates they were taken. The names include: Alia Azizi, Parwana Ibrahimkhel, Mursal Ayar, Zahra Mohammadi, Tamana Zaryab Paryani and her three sisters. Concluding the post, the star wrote: "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."

The 'Eternals' star made her debut on Instagram in August last year by sharing a different letter from a teenage girl who feared for the nation's future under the Taliban's rule. In the letter, the unidentified young woman detailed how she and many others were living in fear that their dreams were no longer possible. "This is a letter I was sent from a teenage girl in Afghanistan. Right now, the people of Afghanistan are losing their ability to communicate on social media and to express themselves freely. So I've come on Instagram to share their stories and the voices of those across the globe who are fighting for their basic human rights," Jolie wrote.

"I was on the border of Afghanistan two weeks before 9/11, where I met Afghan refugees who had fled the Taliban. This was twenty years ago. It is sickening to watch Afghans being displaced yet again out of the fear and uncertainty that has gripped their country," she continued. "To spend so much time and money, to have bloodshed and lives lost only to come to this, is a failure almost impossible to understand. Watching for decades how Afghan refugees - some of the most capable people in the world - are treated like a burden is also sickening. Knowing that if they had the tools and respect, how much they would do for themselves. And meeting so many women and girls who not only wanted an education but fought for it. Like others who are committed, I will not turn away. I will continue to look for ways to help. And I hope you'll join me."