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Afghanistan

TFP Afghan Women_Susie Ang_3000
(Illustration by Susie Ang/The Fuller Project)

Reporter’s Notebook: As suicides rise in Afghanistan, getting people to open up under the Taliban poses enormous challenges

News stories about Afghan women dying by suicide made Zahra Nader want to dig deeper. Getting people to open up took months.

Afghan women take their own lives as despair grows under Taliban rule

An investigation into rising female suicides in Afghanistan as the Taliban erodes women’s rights.

Women protesters in Afghanistan call for aid groups to serve Taliban an ultimatum

Protesters say U.N. should withdraw aid from Afghanistan rather than give in to Taliban ban on women workers.

America Is Again Failing Afghanistan’s Women—and Itself

The deteriorating status of women under Taliban rule is a strategic disaster for Washington.

Afghan women tell us how their lives have changed

Ahead of International Women’s Day, we asked three Afghan women how their lives had changed since the Taliban took over. These are their stories.

In Afghanistan, threatening the very survival of women

A new Taliban decree forbids Afghan women from working for foreign aid groups. We talk to two experts in the country about its impact.

In Conversation: Journalist Zahra Joya and Scholar/Activist Esha Momeni on the struggle for women’s rights in Afghanistan, Iran and beyond

There are forces driving the erosion of women’s rights in Afghanistan, Iran and beyond, including in the United States.

‘We have to fight back.’ Afghan women are losing their hard-won right to work under the Taliban

Afghan women's participation in the workforce rose steadily in the 20 years after the Taliban were ousted from government. Since they returned to power, those gains have been rapidly eroding. Now activists fear a new edict mandating the burqa in public could destroy them altogether.

Forced back into the burqa, Afghan women speak out

Afghan women are speaking out in protest of the Taliban’s decree mandating women wear a burqa or niqab at all times in public.

“Afghanistan is hell for queer and trans people”

There are many dangers faced by the Afghan Queer community after the Taliban’s return to power.

What the Taliban means for queer Afghans

During the US occupation, little was done to build a support network for the LGBTQ+ community in Afghanistan. Now their lives are in danger as they struggle to flee.

What it takes to tell Afghan women’s stories

Founder of Rukhshana Media and one of TIME’s 2020 Women of the Year, Zahra Joya on what it takes to report in defiance of the Taliban.

Dating in the time of the Taliban

For most Young Afghans coming of age under US occupation, the Taliban was a history lesson. For them, mingling in restaurants and dating was normal. Now, everything has changed.

Afghanistan’s new government imposes discriminatory restrictions on healthcare

A new requirement from the Taliban— that women be accompanied by a male chaperone when seeking healthcare—is preventing many Afghan women from getting the treatment they need at a time when the country is facing a severe economic crisis, food insecurity and a massive spike in COVID-19 cases.

Dispatches from Afghanistan: She attended a protest. Then the Taliban showed up at her door

An Afghan woman is attacked by a Taliban soldier during a protest. Then one shows up at her door the next day. Now she must flee.

‘My Classmates Have No Hope’

“We were the ones hoping to shape the future, but they took that future away from us,” a teen girl writes, describing the “terror” of attending a high school in northern Afghanistan under Taliban control—the latest dispatch in our series with Rukhshana Media, “Ending America’s Forever War: What is next for Afghan women?”

'We Must Stay Strong': As Freedoms Erode, An Aspiring Student Calls for Solidarity, Hope

A young Afghan woman seeks solidarity and hope for women and girls despite Taliban oppression.

Dispatches From Afghanistan: ‘Can You Imagine How Difficult It Is to Feel Exiled in Your Own City?’

A female journalist in Kabul adjusts to life under the Taliban’s shadow.
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