Taliban

Two girls holding paper signs that say "Education is our right"

Afghan student struggles with adjusting to life in the US

Many women saw no future for themselves in Afghanistan when the Taliban took over. So, when offered a chance to leave, many took it. Reporter Rebecca Rosman meets a young Afghan student. Unfortunately, her temporary status in the US is a constant shadow, as she can’t go home again.

Women providing services within a beauty salon

‘We are dead inside:’ Women in Afghanistan protest Taliban ban of beauty salons

Afghanistan
women with signs

After Taliban ban, women NGO workers in Afghanistan struggle to make ends meet

Afghanistan
staff in lobby area

Prominent Afghan news organization reports on life under Taliban rule from Maryland 

Afghanistan
US Special Envoy Rina Amiri addresses the 16th annual International Women of Courage (IWOC) Awards virtual ceremony at the State Department, Monday, March 14, 2022, in Washington. 

US special envoy: Taliban ‘puts women’s right at peril everywhere’

Afghanistan
A classroom that previously was used for girls sits empty in Kabul, Afghanistan, Dec. 22, 2022.

He spoke out against banning girls’ education. The Taliban silenced him.

Afghanistan

Ismail Mashal used to teach at two universities in Afghanistan. He ran his own education centers and was an outspoken critic of the Taliban’s ban on girls’ education. He was arrested earlier this month, along with another academic and a journalist.

Malala Yousafzai pointing at a poster advertisement of her documentary, "Stranger at the Gate."

‘There is hope’: Malala Yousafzai promotes tolerance, connection with new documentary

Conflict & Justice

Malala Yousafzai’s new Oscar-nominated documentary, “Stranger at the Gate,” features a former US marine suffering from PTSD who sets out to bomb a mosque in Indiana, but changes his life around after the community embraces him. Yousafzai joins The World’s Marco Werman to discuss the film and her own experiences.

A Taliban fighter stands guard as people wait to receive food rations distributed by a South Korean humanitarian aid group, in Kabul, Afghanistan, May 10, 2022.

Afghan women say they are ‘dying in slow motion’ after killing of former female MP

Afghanistan

Mursal Nabizada, who decided to remain in Afghanistan after the Taliban took over in 2021, was killed by gunmen on Jan. 15, along with her bodyguard. A friend and former colleague of hers, Fawzia Koofi, speaks with The World’s host Marco Werman about her memories of Nabizada and the ongoing plight of women in the country.

Afghan women participate in a protest against the university education ban for women, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Dec. 22, 2022.

Education for women ‘is an Afghan value and an Islamic right,’ says male professor in solidarity against university ban

Education

Male faculty members have stood up in solidarity with Afghan women following a Taliban decree banning them from attending universities. Obaidullah Baheer, a lecturer at the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul, discusses the situation with The World’s host Marco Werman.

a girl in a classroom

‘We are erased’: The fight to reopen girls secondary schools in Afghanistan continues

Afghanistan

This past week, girls in the province of Paktia in eastern Afghanistan went to the streets to protest. The Taliban had reopened their schools but ordered them shut again. Girls’ education in Afghanistan has become a sensitive topic since the Taliban came to power last year. They have closed down nearly all secondary schools for girls in the country.