Following the August 15, 2021, takeover of Afghanistan, the Taliban banned girls from higher education, but private tuition centers remained open until last December when the Taliban’s total ban on women’s education came. Rukhshana Media published accounts of severe mistreatment of girls by the Taliban morality police at the private education centers, some of which are as follows. — Written by Shirin Yousefi, translated by Rustam Seerat

My story on how I learned to read and write and how I buried my books when the Taliban took over Afghanistan for the 2nd time. — My father and uncles were bi-sawad, a Persian word for illiterate, meaning they could not read or write. They inherited it from their father, my grandfather, and great-grandfather. Traditionally sawad (literacy) was seen as a male thing; naturally, no females in our family were literate. But interestingly, it was a…

“Whether to educate or not to educate female children” is today’s question in Afghanistan. — While walking the Kabul streets in the first decade of this century, I often saw signs, a billboard, or writing on the wall saying, “Learning knowledge is obligatory for Muslims (Muslim men) and Muslimas (Muslim women).” The above sentence is a literal translation of a Hadith (saying) attributed to Mohammad…

People come to Rome hoping to escape boredom, but alas, it is often futile — Every now and then, I visit Rome; the distance between the Colosseum and Piazza Venezia is full of tourists going and coming, yet when I do my people-watching routine -I will explain people-watching in the next paragraph- boredom emerges as the common theme. The tourists that frequent the distance between…

Today is Nowruz (the new day), and it is the new year in Afghanistan, Iran, and many countries in Central Asia. — The Taliban banned the celebration of Nawruz for the second time this year. The group first the Solar New Year Celebration banned when it dominated the country in the late 1990s. The celebration of Nawruz, a holiday with ancient roots in Central Asia, the Middle East, and parts of South…

A clergyman with progressive views by the late 20th century Afghanistan standards. — Abdul Ali Mazari was a prominent politician, military commander, and leader of the Hazara ethnic group in Afghanistan. …

The Taliban are not moderating themselves; what is the solution, then? — The Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan on August 15th, 2021, sent shockwaves through the international community, with many expressing concerns about the group’s extremist views and actions. Many inside Afghanistan also remain in disbelief. On Afghanistan’s social media, I see many arguing that the Taliban cannot continue the way…

The glue in the relationship among autocratic regimes worldwide is getting stickier, giving the autocratic peace theory more credence. — In international relations scholarship, a widely-known theory is called the democratic peace theory. The democratic peace theory in international relations suggests that democracies are less likely to go to war with each other. This theory asserts that because democracies are characterized by a commitment to individual rights and a system…

The two non-human victims of the Taliban, Salsall & Shahmama — On this day (March 11), we remember the Buddhas of Bamiyan, the two monumental statues that stood tall and proud for centuries in the Bamiyan valley of central Afghanistan. These statues were a testament to the rich cultural heritage of Afghanistan and the country’s history as a hub of Buddhist…