Nightmares of Education and Work: Faces of Taliban's Five-Year Era in Afghanistan

Five years of escalating restrictions have turned the lives of 22 million Afghan women into a silent prison, where educational and professional dreams have faded through the cracks of the ruling system, leaving behind a deep sense of frustration and fear of an uncertain future.

Collapse of Academic and Professional Dreams

Shakiba, an 18-year-old girl, describes the moment secondary school doors closed to her as the most painful in her life, noting that every anniversary of that date reopens the wound of defeat and makes her feel as if her dreams were suddenly snatched away after she sincerely believed she would pursue higher education like other girls.

Meanwhile, Zohal, a former journalist aged 32, expresses a pain that goes beyond losing her livelihood, affirming that the new system stripped her of her identity, independence, and hope for the future, moving her from the enthusiasm of work and media to domestic chores and bread-making, while maintaining a faint hope of returning to what she loves someday.

Deadly Impact on Healthcare

The repercussions of the ban extend to vital sectors like health, where Maryam, the only midwife in a district of 50,000 people, fears for her daughter’s future, who is denied education, and asks deeply worriedly: who will treat women in the future if new training stops, pointing out that this issue is a matter of life and death after witnessing mothers die due to staff shortages.

Historical Background of Persecution

Since August 2021, the Taliban has imposed a series of gradual measures including banning girls from secondary schools, enforcing male accompaniment, full body covering, closing universities and beauty salons, up to banning raising voices in public places and nursing training, culminating in the legalization of child marriage in May 2026, which has sparked widespread international condemnation.

Official data indicates there are only 6,000 midwives in the country, while it needs an additional 18,000, meaning that preventing women from medical institutes in late 2024 has practically halted the renewal of the female health workforce, threatening an imminent humanitarian catastrophe in the near future.