Rizwana Got Caught

Rizwana always breaks the rules and fools you. Just the other day, she hid the stone she had just borrowed from me and said it was lost. I don’t want to play with her anymore. I left the playground and sat on the side, watching her and Wajiha, her aunt’s...

The Day No Afghan Will Ever Forget

Today, on the occasion of August 15, a dark day for the people, girls, and women of Afghanistan, I want to narrate the pain, suffering, and restrictions we face. This day revives the memory of the fall of our homeland—August 15, 2021—a day that no Afghan...

Yasmeen’s Element

It was Thursday. I woke up early and got engrossed in a book that my professor had recently sent me, The History of Stupidity. I was so absorbed in it that I lost track of time and realized it was almost time to go. I rushed out and reached school by 8 AM. I went to...

Afghan Girls and Women are Being Silenced, Literally

As I reflect on my journey, I’m taken back to the day that changed everything. I was in seventh grade, and the Taliban had forbidden me from pursuing further education. But I refused to give up. I continued to attend school in secret, along with a few brave...

Afghan Girls Are No Longer Visible

The sky above Kabul was a deep, foreboding grey, as if the sun had long ago abandoned us. The clouds hung low, like a mournful veil, casting a shadow over the city’s empty streets forever. This was not the same Kabul I had grown up in, where I had seen hope. The...

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