Stories from South Asia
In the brightly lit lobby of an Albanian hotel hosting Afghan refugees, a group of women gather to discuss how to counter the repressive rules introduced by the Taliban. The group includes Afghan lawyers and prosecutors who are among about […]
Afghan television personalities say the Taliban’s new rules controlling women on screen will exclude half of the population from popular culture. The Taliban’s reinstated Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice issued eight guidelines on Sunday, including a […]
IN MARCH OF LAST YEAR, Rabia and her two young daughters were forced to leave their home in northern Afghanistan. While facing the threat of increased violence, their village was also in the midst of a severe drought that strained the […]
At 32 years old, Dr. K is old enough to remember the first time the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 1995. She was 7 when girls were banned from school. “For years, my mother ensured that we continued our […]
Negina Azimi felt shock and fear like never before when she heard that Taliban fighters had entered Kabul on 15 August. As an outspoken female artist in Afghanistan, she knew they would come for her. “We heard reports that the Taliban […]
When Saleema Rehman was a kid growing up in refugee camps in Pakistan, her nickname was “Doctor Saleema.” Her mom faced severe complications while delivering her – and Rehman’s dad, Abdul, promised that if the baby lived, he would make […]
Everything that 19-year-old Zahra* knew about the Taliban, she learned from Khaled Hosseini’s novels. “My parents didn’t tell me much about what it was like for them living under [the] Taliban because they were protecting me. But I knew about […]
It is past midnight in Kabul, but the phones of 180 Afghan women ping as messages arrive and screens light up with the persistent chatter of resistance against Taliban rule. Few on the WhatsApp group share their real names, and […]
In a matter of hours, Sara’s perfect teenage life turned upside down on August 15 as the Taliban marched into her city and took control of Afghanistan. “I knew things were bad, but I didn’t imagine that my Kabul would fall […]
It has taken only three days to completely transform the lives of women in Kabul. The mere act of stepping out of their homes has become an almost insurmountable challenge, they told The National. Since the Taliban captured the Afghan capital on Sunday, […]