HANOVER — A crowd of more than 400 gathered in Hanover High School’s auditorium to honor two women Afghan judges who have found refuge in the Twin States after escaping with their families following the fall of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the ensuing Taliban takeover in 2021.

Thursday’s event was sponsored by the New Hampshire Supreme Court, Hanover High School and Dartmouth College. The purpose was to formally honor judges Anisa Rasooli and Geeti Roeen, who have recently settled in Vermont and New Hampshire, respectively, following harrowing evacuations from Kabul more than two years ago.

Both women’s judicial careers had been dedicated to fighting for the rule of law and the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan. The ceremony celebrated their courage and resilience, as well as their commitment to creating a just society.

Vermont Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Reiber read a proclamation to each judge that stated: “On behalf of the courts of the state of New Hampshire and the state of Vermont, Chief Justice MacDonald (of the New Hampshire Supreme Court) and I have executed today a proclamation in your honor on this day in the year 2024. We appreciate your presence here. We appreciate all you have done for your country and for ours as well.”

Speaking through a translator, Rasooli said, “I appreciate everything you have done for Afghan women who are struggling every day and doing their best in a difficult situation.”

Rasooli escaped Kabul in 2021 with the assistance of Polish special forces. She remained in Poland until last May, when she was able, with the help of an informal support network organized by retired Vermont Judge Patricia Whalen and the Vermont State Refugee Office, to settle in Burlington, along with her nephew, Omar.

After decades of struggle to promote justice in Afghanistan, “we lost everything,” she said. The effects on Afghan women, she said, have been devastating and include increased suicide rates.” But, she said, “the Taliban has not been able to stop women from fighting for their rights.”

“Do not leave Afghan women alone in this fight,” she asked.

Roeen was evacuated from Kabul to the United Arab Emirates in 2021 and spent two years in a refugee camp before resettlement in Manchester in November.

“Overnight, we lost everything,” she said. In the refugee camp, “every hour, every minute and every second were very hard for us.” She spoke of the U.S. as a land of opportunity.

Rasooli and Roeen and their families were not the only Afghan refugees in the auditorium Thursday. Nazir Ekhlass served as interpreter for both judges, whose primary language is Dari.

A native of Kabul, he too left Afghanistan in 2021, on a journey that took him to Pakistan, Qatar and New Jersey before he settled in “beautiful New Hampshire,” he said.

Ekhlass, now a business manager for a translation and interpretation service in Manchester, was a research analyst for the U.S. embassy in Kabul prior to the Taliban takeover, providing data analysis for the embassy and the United Nations.

Additional speakers included Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt., New Hampshire Circuit Court Judge Ellen Christo and Whalen, of Westminster, Vt.

All of the speakers had played instrumental roles as part of an informal but effective support network that facilitated the resettlement of Rasooli and Roeen and helped to relocate 270 women judges out of Afghanistan.

Lamenting that “Taliban forces have all but extinguished the promising futures of so many women.” Shaheen said that she remains as committed as ever to helping Afghan women and girls. “We must continue to do everything we can to ensure that women’s voices are heard inside Afghanistan and across the world.”

In introducing the program’s speakers, New Hampshire Supreme Court Associate Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi exclaimed that “New Hampshire and Vermont rock!” and “we are so proud of your response to these courageous women.” She praised Shaheen for her persistence and “red-tape-cutting skills.”

Hanover High School 11th and 12th grade students filled the auditorium, while ninth and 10th grade students watched a livestream in their classrooms. Senior Oscar Solberg was one of two students who had the opportunity to ask questions of Rasooli and Roeen, and he asked what it was like, culturally, to be a woman working in Afghanistan’s legal system under the best of circumstances, when the country was not under the control of the Taliban.

“When a lot of people think of the experience of women judges in Afghanistan,” Solberg said in an interview after the event, “they’re thinking about the change from a republican government to the Taliban.” But he wanted to know how Afghanistan’s non-extremist culture impacted women and how that culture compared to the U.S. Rasooli described a “masculine mentality” that pervaded Afghan society, which, she acknowledged, was an obstacle for women even without extremists in power

Hanover 11th graders Finch Shepherd and Liam Danaher didn’t know much about the judges’ stories prior to attending the event, but they both expressed excitement and appreciation for the opportunity to have this sort of program come to their school.

“It makes it real,” said Danaher in an interview following the ceremony. Shepherd added that “it’s unique for high school students to have this kind of opportunity.”

Pam Custer has been on the social studies faculty at Hanover High School for 27 years, teaching an array of courses that includes constitutional law, criminal law, sociology, international relations and geopolitics. Whalen has been a guest speaker in her classes, and that connection introduced Custer to Whalen’s work with Afghan refugees.

In an interview Thursday afternoon, Custer said that she believes in “the crucial role of the rule of law in building a just society” and has worked closely with the New Hampshire judiciary by hosting guest speakers for her classes and facilitating courtroom visits for her students.

Christina Dolan can be reached at cdolan@vnews.com or 603-727-3208.

CORRECTION: The Vermont State Refugee Office helped t  o resettle Judge Anisa Rasooli and her nephew in Burlington. A previous version of this story gave an incorrect name for the office that helped with the resettlement.