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The Situation of Afghan Women under Taliban Rule: A Reflection on Independence Day

SARA RASOLI

On the eve of Afghanistan’s Independence Day, a day that once symbolized freedom and self-determination after 1919, Afghan women find themselves in a reality far from liberation.

While the nation celebrates its historic escape from colonial domination, millions of women remain trapped under new chains of social, political, and cultural restrictions imposed by the Taliban’s return to power.

When the Taliban regained control in 2021, hope was dimmed almost overnight. Classrooms that once buzzed with girls eager to learn fell silent. Universities that had opened their doors to women slammed them shut. Today, an entire generation of Afghan girls has been erased from the education system.

A young girl in Kabul may wake up each morning dreaming of becoming a doctor or an engineer, yet she is forbidden even to step inside a school building. Education, the very foundation of independence, has been stripped away from half of the nation’s population.

But it is not only schools that have closed their doors. Workplaces too have become forbidden spaces. Women who were once teachers, journalists, aid workers, or leaders in business are now ordered back into their homes, told that their presence in public life is not welcome. In a cruel twist, women who spent decades building careers and livelihoods have been forced into silence and invisibility.

Beauty salons, which were among the last safe spaces for women to earn a living and gather with dignity, were shut down in 2023. A society that had once begun to thrive with women’s contributions has now been stripped of their voices.

Yet within these shadows, stories of resilience continue to bloom. Across Afghanistan, women have turned kitchens, basements, and back rooms into hidden classrooms where girls still learn to read and write in secret. Some whisper lessons in small groups, while others log into online classes despite frequent electricity cuts and internet restrictions. In whispers and coded messages, knowledge continues to flow, defying the decrees of power.

The struggles are immense. Poverty has deepened, families face hunger, and countless widows and mothers carry unbearable responsibilities without the right to work. Still, Afghan women are not passive victims.

They are organizing quietly, protesting in small gatherings, and raising their voices on social media even when it risks their lives. Each act of defiance is a reminder that the spirit of independence is not dead; it is alive within them.

As the world marks Afghanistan’s Independence Day, the painful irony cannot be ignored. The country won freedom from colonial powers in 1919, yet its daughters are still fighting for the most basic freedoms: education, work and equality. Independence is incomplete when half of a nation’s population lives in chains.

The resilience of Afghan women is a story of both heartbreak and hope. It is a story that calls on the world not to forget them, and on Afghanistan itself to realize that no nation can truly prosper when its women are silenced. Each time a girl picks up a book in secret, or a mother teaches her daughter to write her name, they keep alive a flame that the Taliban cannot extinguish.

Tomorrow, as the flag of independence rises once again, Afghan women will look upon it with mixed emotions. For some, it will symbolize a promise yet unfulfilled; for others, it will be a reminder of sacrifices still to be made. But one truth remains unshaken: until Afghan women are free, Afghanistan itself can never truly claim to be independent.

SARA RASOLI, 18^th August 2025

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