Afghan women 'fighting alone', Zahra Joya says

Afghan journalist Zahra Joya, who lives in Britain, said Afghan women are “fighting alone” against discrimination by Taliban authorities and feel abandoned by the world.

Joya, 34, founded Rukhshana Media in 2020 to amplify the voices and stories of Afghan women. She left Kabul in 2021 after the Taliban returned to power, saying that from the Taliban's perspective her identity as a woman, her work as a journalist and her Hazara ethnicity were all treated as wrong.

As the fifth anniversary of the Taliban's return approached, Joya said she struggled with how Afghanistan had changed. She recalled being able to work as a journalist in Kabul shortly before August 15, 2021, then feeling “in prison” in her house after the Taliban authorities ordered women to stay home.

Taliban authorities have closed high schools and universities to women and girls over about age 12 and imposed rules limiting women's access to public life. Joya said journalists working with her inside Afghanistan operate in secrecy because of personal security risks.

Joya also described disguising herself as a boy during childhood under the previous Taliban administration so she could attend school. In July, she published a memoir, “The Vanishing Girl of Kabul”, about her life and the fate of Afghan women.

“We need your solidarity,” Joya said, urging people to share Afghan women's stories and press governments over engagement with the Taliban.