The fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban on August 15, 2021, continues to resonate and claim new victims. At the end of 2022, the group banned women from working in local and foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs). No one can say how much worse the oppression against women and girls in the country will get, but it doesn’t look good.
THE MIRACULOUS LOVE KIDS — a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization that served as Afghanistan’s only school of music for war-torn, poverty-stricken girls and young women until August 15, 2021 — the arrival of the Taliban changed everything. The guitar lessons, the recordings, the videos, and the hope for a better life — all gone in a flash. Their instruments destroyed, their dreams shattered, these post-9/11 children had never experienced the harsh rule of the Taliban in their lifetime. It was a disruption like no other.
To show their commitment and underscore how far they’ve come, THE MIRACULOUS LOVE KIDS have recorded a version of TOM PETTY’s “I WON’T BACK DOWN.” Joining the MLKs is country superstar BLAKE SHELTON, along with three members of the distinguished ROCK & ROLL HALL OF FAME: guitarist JOE WALSH and bassist TIMOTHY B. SCHMIT of THE EAGLES, plus drummer MATT SORUM of GUNS N’ ROSES and VELVET REVOLVER.