Years after acid attack, an Afghan story of survival takes a dark turn

 Mumtaz’s new baby still has no name.

Mumtaz is a 23-year-old woman from the northern Afghan province of Kunduz, the victim of an acid attack when she was 18, whose tormentors were jailed. It was a rare legal victory in the struggle for women’s rights in Afghanistan, hailed at the time as proof that justice for female victims was possible.

But as far as Mumtaz is concerned, justice has brought her nothing but tragedy.

Last month she was widowed, her husband killed by relatives of her attackers. When his body was brought to her, she went through his pockets in desperation and found 2,000 afghanis, about $28, which was the only money he left her.

Last week that money ran out when her first child, an 18-month-old daughter, Asma, became sick and Mumtaz spent what was left on a doctor.

Before his death, her husband, Mohammad Khan, had bought a treat for Mumtaz, a large can of powdered milk. She was due to give birth in September and that would help with the baby’s nutrition.

But Mumtaz and Asma had little to eat besides bread and tea, so they finished off the milk last week. “I have no hope. I have nothing,” she said.