Journalist Khadija Haidary left her home in Afghanistan in October 2024 after spending three years trying to survive as a working woman in a Taleban-controlled country.
When universities closed to women in late 2022, Haidary joined an underground “resistance” network teaching maths, physics and English to girls. However, working under the constant threat of Taliban repercussions was exhausting, she told today’s In The News podcast.
Ms Haidary, who is editor of the Zan Times, now reports from her new home in Pakistan about the growing number of challenges facing women and girls in Afghanistan.
More than 2.2 million Afghan girls have been banned from attending school beyond primary school and last year, the Taliban closed off one of the few avenues still open to women seeking education when it shut down nursing and midwifery training.
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Women must completely veil their bodies, including their faces, in thick clothing at all times in public, and have also been barred from speaking outside their homes.
Meanwhile, malnutrition has soared, the country’s economy is in free fall, and last month, a devastating earthquake killed and displaced thousands, making an already desperate humanitarian situation even worse.
Some people in Afghanistan are pushing back against the regime’s crackdown on human rights, particularly women’s rights. But for most, the future looks bleak.
Will women ever return to education under Taliban rule? And can the country’s leaders be convinced by international negotiators to pull back on some of their most extreme human rights restrictions?
Stefan Smith, spokesperson for the UN’s assistance mission in Afghanistan, joins the podcast to discuss the ongoing challenges facing Afghan people and efforts to engage with Taliban rulers. And journalist Khadija Haidary reflects on the reality for women living under the punitive, gender specific, rules and restrictions.
Today, on In The News, what is life really like under Taliban rule in Afghanistan?
Presented by Sorcha Pollak. Produced by Andrew McNair.
