Angelina Jolie Joins Instagram -- See Her Powerful First Post

Angelina Jolie has joined Instagram and her first post is a powerful one in support of Afghan refugees.

The actress, 46, shared her first post on the social media platform on Friday, the same day she officially launched her page. At the time this article published -- less than an hour after her debut post -- she's already racked up 1.4 million followers.

The special envoy to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees used her platform to bring attention to a subject clearly close to her heart: refugees fleeing Afghanistan after the Taliban seized control of the country.

"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," she captioned her post. "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."

"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," Jolie continued. "It is sickening to watch Afghans being displaced yet again out of the fear and uncertainty that has gripped their country."

"To spend so much time and money, to have blood shed and lives lost only to come to this, is a failure almost impossible to understand," she continued. "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."

She concluded: "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."

In the letter, the teenager said that before the Taliban seized control, "we all [had] rights, we [were] able to defend our rights freely."

She wrote that "when they came, we are all afraid of them, and we think all our dreams are gone" -- and added she does not believe the Taliban has changed at all over the last 20 years.

"We think our rights have been violated and we can not get out," she added.

According to the United Nations, "nearly 400,000 were forced from their homes since the beginning of the year, joining 2.9 million Afghans already internally displaced across the country at the end of 2020."

"We are particularly worried about the impact of the conflict on women and girls," they added in a recent release. "Some 80 per cent of nearly a quarter of a million Afghans forced to flee since the end of May are women and children."