Living in constant fear: an interview with Kohzad, an LGBTQI+ person in Afghanistan
For many, particularly queer people, women, and girls, living in Afghanistan under Taliban rule is bound up with fear, denial, and silence. It is a place where revealing one’s identity can become a permanent danger,…
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Reports
Taliban order ban on smartphones as officials shown destroying devices
This report has been published in partnership with the Guardian. The Taliban have ordered a sweeping ban on the use of smartphones by government officials – in what some analysts say…
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Afghan women: The largest imprisoned population in the world
This year marks the fourth International Women’s Day in which the Taliban have imprisoned Afghan women and girls inside their…
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Ahmad Zahir and the Afghanistan that might have been
One of my great fortunes was being introduced early with the music of Afghanistan in the 1960s and 1970s. That encounter made me believe that progress and transformation were possible…
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Interviews
Interview with Hajar Hussaini, Whiting Award Winner of 2026
Hajar Hussaini is an Afghan poet and translator based in the United States. In 2004, she was 13 when she returned to Kabul with her family from Iran. She lived…
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Narrative
‘We have been buried alive:’ Herat woman describes Taliban’s hijab crackdown
It was around 2 p.m. on Friday when I learned about the Taliban’s notice making their hijab rules mandatory and warning of the arrest of women who don’t dress accordingly.…
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Arts & Culture
A life as wide as the courtyard: A review of ‘Let Me Write to You’
The story Let Me Write to You by Nahid Mehregan takes place in the city of Herat during the first Taliban rule. The novel narrates the lives of several women…
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