“I close the door and the window and play the violin”: an Afghan girl’s forbidden wish
She puts the violin on her left shoulder and moves the bow slowly over the strings. Manizha Rahimi says the...
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“Taliban killed my husband and brainwashed my two sons”: The bitter narrative of Nahida
Her body is still covered in bruises and wounds. Her thighs especially bear marks of a brutal beating by the...
Taliban restrictions on women branded ‘crimes against humanity’
Women’s rights activists have called on the UN to recognize the Taliban’s restrictions on women’s rights as crimes against humanity.
Sexual Harassment rife in Kabul’s hotels and wedding halls
Shahla has found them to be dangerous and distressing workplaces, where female staff risk sexual harassment, verbal humiliation, and even...
A father wants to sell his kidney so his daughter can go to university
On May first, Shukria Rezayi* checked her email account nervously. After weeks of waiting, she had almost given up hope....
Why a Bamyan woman must work harder than men to get her children get an education
A cold spring wind is blowing on a cloudy day in Dar-e-Ali (Ali Valley) in Bamyan’s Yakawlang district. It is...
For Afghan widows, the wounds of war may never heal
Twenty years of the Taliban war have left many victims; not only soldiers killed on the battlefield but their wives...
Badghis radio station teaches high school lessons over the airwaves
In Badghis province, a group of girls gather around a radio. It’s three o’clock on a Saturday afternoon and they...
‘We fought for 20 years against the infidels for your hijab’: Journal of an encounter with the morality police in a Kabul cafe
I entered the cafe in Pol-e-Sorkh around noon. It’s one of the relatively new buildings in Kabul’s district three, or...
Art as resistance: The Herati graphic artist who uses beauty to defy the Taliban
A woman dressed in a light blue, flower-embroidered dress stands in the center of the picture, gripping the sun in...
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