Laila

Life of Fear Replaces Life of Dreams After Taliban Takeover

Once the breadwinner for eight people, an Afghan woman says she now feels “in prison” since the Taliban took over Afghanistan

Zahra Joya

Struggling to survive: Story of a challenging journey

“During the days that I lived under the dark shadow of the Taliban, I felt like a bird in a cage. Like a bird with wings, but no permission to fly,” Afghan journalist Zahra Joya says, describing life under the Taliban

Zahra Nader

‘The Humiliation I Experienced Just to Escape the Taliban’

Get trampled or crawl through sewage? An Afghan woman describes the “humiliating” conditions fleeing Afghans faced while trying to escape Afghanistan after the Taliban took over

Maryam Nabavi

‘The Day the Taliban Reached Kabul, it Turned into a Ghost City’

Afghan journalist Maryam Nabavi describes feelings of hope and despair after Kabul fell to the Taliban

Hosnia Mohseni

The Taliban’s Return Was the Death of Dreams

After two weeks of living under Taliban control, a youth activist decides it’s time to for her to leave Afghanistan. “This is not what our people deserve,” says Hosnia Mohseni, 30

Zahra Nader

‘The Taliban Came and Killed My Spirit!’

A school teacher in central Afghanistan laments the loss of educational opportunities for girls and women since the Taliban took control.

Susan Rinkunas

The women left out of post-9/11 health care

The events of 9/11 made these women sick. Twenty years later, why are they still left out of the health coverage that was created for survivors?

Zahra Nader

‘They Left Us to the Taliban’

Six Afghan women describe their feelings of fear, anger, and betrayal in the wake of America’s departure

Amie Ferris-Rotman

What Afghanistan’s women stand to lose

For the past 20 years, Afghan women were told to chase their dreams. But within days of the Taliban takeover, Afghan women are mourning their working lives and freedom

Atefa Alizada

As the Taliban Resurges in Afghanistan, Girls Are Already Losing Schools

Girls’ education—once a signature achievement of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan—is increasingly under threat as the Taliban tightens its grip