Stories from Afghanistan and India
Gul Meena Hotak was on her regular rounds, going door-to-door giving polio vaccinations in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, when she heard gunshots. The 22-year-old’s immediate concern was for the safety of her friend Negina and other colleagues nearby. […]
Across the world 800 million children are still not fully back in school, Unicef is warning, with many at risk of never returning to the classroom the longer closures go on. There are at least 90 countries where schools are […]
Last year, at only 21 years, Sofiea Sakhi Karimi was forced to retire from her brief but celebrated career in the Afghan media owing to growing threats and violence against media workers in her country. “Working in Afghanistan as a […]
Lanny Cordola arrived in Afghanistan in 2016 with nothing but a few belongings, his guitar and a determination to make a difference in the lives of the Afghan children affected by the war. As well as being a well-known musician from […]
In the latest of a wave of assassinations that has gripped Afghanistan, two female judges were killed on Sunday by gunmen in central Kabul as they headed to work. Identified as Zakia Herawi and Qadria Yasini by family members, the […]
It was just after 7am when the car carrying Colonel Saba Sahar, one of Afghanistan’s most senior female police officers, came under fire from armed insurgents. In the back seat, Sahar’s four-year-old daughter began screaming as bullets shattered the windscreen […]
As a second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic threatens medical infrastructure across Afghanistan, many couples in the conservative country, where family planning is largely considered a taboo, have begun opting for contraceptive services out of fear of a risk to […]
WHEN SAIDGUL WAS around 6 months old this past March, his parents decided to take him to Herat, a city about 80 miles from their hometown in Shindand District in Herat Province in western Afghanistan. The road between the two towns […]
KABUL—For a woman in the last few weeks of her pregnancy, 24-year-old Sohaila walks surprisingly quickly as she invites us into the first-floor guest room of her traditional Afghan house in the outskirts of Kabul in October. The large yet […]
Three years ago, Salima Mazari knew very little about the violence that has plagued her country for decades. Born and raised as a refugee in Iran, she was sheltered from the worst of the conflict, despite enduring other hardships familiar […]