Al Jazeera: Jowzjan Province, which sits on the border between Afghanistan and Turkmenistan, and is close to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, several hundred local women have decided to take up arms against the fighters. Filmmaker Najibullah Quraishi, keen to find out why they had decided to fight and what it meant for their families, their communities and
The Guardian (UK): When Radio Shaista goes silent, you know the Taliban are close. The female-run radio station was looted and wrecked when the group captured Kunduz, Afghanistan’s embattled northern city, in 2015, sending journalists fleeing. Even after the Taliban were routed, female journalists have been on guard, if they ever returned, that is. Zarghoona Hassan,
DW: The reality TV competition “Afghan Star” is Afghanistan’s most popular television show. The first female finalist so far was a young woman from a Taliban stronghold. Her success has put her life in danger. Click here to read more (external link).
Reuters: Zan TV (“Women’s TV”) launches on Sunday (May 21) with an all-female staff of presenters and producers, following a high-profile marketing campaign on billboards in Kabul and on social media. Click here to read more (external link).
Fox News: At just 22 years old with a small baby to tend to, Fada Astana received a message every spouse of a soldier in combat dreads: Your husband has been killed in action. Suddenly without an income and fearing for her future, Astana two years ago joined the national police force, stationed in Afghanistan’s Panjshir
CTV News: Born in an Afghan refugee camp, Shaesta Waiz says she remembers being painfully shy and afraid of airplanes. Now, the 29-year-old is the first female certified civilian pilot from the war-torn country. She has her sights set on becoming the youngest woman to complete a solo flight around the world, and she wants every
RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan May 15, 2017 Afghan President Ashraf Ghani says women are the biggest victims of the ongoing war in Afghanistan, which he says has prevented millions of girls and women from getting an education. “The number of women deprived of literacy in Afghanistan is three times more than men and the reason
BBC News: Kicking a ball around the schoolyard has been a right of passage for children all over the world, but for former Afghanistan women’s captain Khalida Popal, playing football nearly cost her her life. “It was really dangerous, I can’t forget that time or that moment, where I felt I may no longer be alive.
IWPR: The ruins of Kabul’s once grand Darulaman Palace, devastated by decades of war, have long been an iconic sight in the capital. An ambitious Afghan-led 16 million US dollar reconstruction project agreed in May 2016 aims to both restore the palace built by King Amanullah Khan in the 1920s and turn it into a symbol
DW: In former Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, many still believe a woman’s place is in the home. But two Afghan sisters want to bring a digital revolution to their country by teaching girls how to code and use computers. Click here to read more (external link).