A year ago, she drank battery acid to escape life under the Taliban. Today, she has a message for other Afghan girls

Video Ad Feedback Oppressed to death: Life under Taliban rule 05:48 - Source: CNN Editor’s Note: If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or mental health matters, please call the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in the US by dialing 988 to connect with a trained counselor, or visit the 988 Lifeline website. I was overwhelmed by hopelessness, and that’s why I drank acid, convinced it would end my life,” said Arzo, whom CNN first met last November as she lay in bed, too weak to speak. “We have a collective responsibility to challenge and dismantle this appalling system” Richard Bennett, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan Despite strong condemnation of the Taliban by most UN member states, the issue of women’s rights will not be on the formal agenda. “My message to all girls in Afghanistan who can’t continue their education or go to school is to stay strong and don’t lose hope.” No safe haven in Pakistan While the Taliban is in power, Arzo does not want to go back to Afghanistan, but she and her siblings are not wanted in Pakistan. Baloch told CNN on Friday that the government still hadn’t decided whether to extend POR visas that were set to expire on Sunday, and had earlier said that Pakistan was considering the implications of “all the various options.” Amanullah was six years old when his Afghan family sought refuge in Pakistan in the 1980s.