r/afghanistan Jun 26 '26

For Afghanistan's Girls, a Dream Deferred

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thefreedomfrequency.org
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Mahnaz Akbari tells of the encounters she had as a member of Afghanistan’s security forces tasked with interviewing girls and women. These meetings conveyed a harsh truth: Afghan girls grow up not knowing they can learn to read and write and pursue their own interests. Many also believe that their society does not have a place for them. “I know she was not just a girl in a remote village,” Akbari writes of one meeting. “She was the symbol of millions of girls whose futures were decided before they ever had the chance to choose.” After Afghanistan fell again to the Taliban, women protested in the streets to defend their rights to education and freedom, Akbari writes, but those rights are under attack daily.


r/afghanistan 4d ago

War/Terrorism Resistance to Taliban rule persists in Afghanistan

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r/afghanistan 18h ago

Discussion Afghan woman DNA

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Australian born, both parents born in Afghanistan from Kabul


r/afghanistan 15h ago

Please listen to the voice of an Afghan woman who is teaching and supporting girls through the WDI Afghanistan online education program. (English language video from teacher)

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WDI.Afghanistan @WDIAfghanistan1 · 3h 🔊 Important: Afghan girls need your support this September. 💙

Please listen to the voice of an Afghan woman who is teaching and supporting girls through the WDI Afghanistan online education program.

We currently do not have enough funding to cover all students’ internet costs for September.⬇️

https://donate.stripe.com/dRmbJ00SQbkY4UM92k1VK04

Or

https://gofund.me/8ea2748c0

And in the coming months, we hope to provide power banks to active girls in our online education program. Many of our students have only about 4 hours of electricity a day, making it difficult to keep their phones charged and stay connected to their classes.

💙 You can help: • Support a girl’s internet costs • Gift a power bank to help her stay connected • Sign our petition and stand with Afghan women and girls in defending their right to education https://change.org/p/immediate-lifting-of-the-ban-on-education-and-work-for-girls-and-women-in-afghanistan

Thank you for standing with Afghan girls and helping keep their education alive. ❤️


r/afghanistan 19h ago

Analysis What happened to Afghanistan’s female academics? Women made up 28% of university students and 14% of academic staff. This was almost entirely reversed.

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r/afghanistan 18h ago

Question How different Pashto spoken in parts of Pakistan and Pashto spoken in parts of Afghanistan are?

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r/afghanistan 1d ago

Young man killed in Herat

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"Local sources, by sending this video footage, say that a young man around 30 years old named Abdul Qadir Pahlavan Zadeh was executed by machine gun fire by the Taliban at 5 p.m. on Friday in the fourth district of Herat city, at checkpoint number one, in front of the fuel tank, after being tortured and while his hands were tied. In this video, it is also seen that a young man, after being tortured and having his hands tied, is shot by an individual."

https://x.com/HashteSubhDaily/status/2096604167133438000


r/afghanistan 1d ago

Participants Needed - 5x 100$ - [Academic] Attitudes and Behaviors Study (18+, Survey in English). Link here: https://ww3.unipark.de/uc/research_study_university_Bern_Switzerland/

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Hey everyone,

I am a Master’s student at the University of Bern (Switzerland) conducting a scientific research study examining how certain traits, life experiences, attitudes and behaviors are related to each other.

I would greatly appreciate if you could participate in my survey: https://ww3.unipark.de/uc/research_study_university_Bern_Switzerland/

As a token of appreciation, you can choose to enter a prize draw to win one of five USD 100 prizes.

Thank you!


r/afghanistan 2d ago

Five Years After Fleeing Taliban Rule, At-Risk Afghans Live In Hiding In Pakistan

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r/afghanistan 3d ago

Question What Is the Specific Name for This no-collar, wide Kurta?

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I like thr Afghan style of this tunic/ Kurta but I'm having a hard time tracking down a specific name for this tunic and pants that's "specifically a no-collar, with or without buttons, no cuffs, and wide legs pants" style.

I see more Afghanis have this style which I like, which is often longer kurta, no collar, and wider pant legs. Searching for the name. . .

Can anyone help me with the exact name for this style of Qamees/ kurta?

The man in light blue, the man in dark brown, and the man in light brown have the qamees style I like which is usually a longer kurta that falls below the knee caps.


r/afghanistan 3d ago

Discussion Thoughts on this scenario?

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r/afghanistan 3d ago

Analysis Bactrian influence on Kurdish. Newer in-depth studies replacing outdated classification of Pashto into E. Iranian & Kurdish, Balochi, & Parthian into W. Iranian.

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r/afghanistan 5d ago

Afghan music

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Assalamu Alaikom

I am from England and am trying to expand my musical knowledge and experiences. What pieces of music or songs would you say represent Afghanistan, either historically or culturally?


r/afghanistan 5d ago

Looksmaxxing in Taliban Country | In cities like Kabul, the male aesthetics industry is booming as men adapt to rules regulating appearance (Unpaywalled)

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Over the last five years, daily life in Afghanistan has changed significantly, especially for women. But it’s also become a tightrope walk between modernity and ‘morality,’ even for men in the country’s urban centers. That tightrope walk has given way to another: with appearance tightly policed, men in Kabul are still figuring out how to express their masculinity—even what it means to be a man.

Azizullah, a trainer at a high-end gym where memberships can go for as much as $60 a month, says the Islamic Emirate’s efforts to limit social life mixed with a lack of job opportunities and little hope of getting out of the country have sent tens of thousands of young men to the gyms that keep popping up around the capital.

“A lot of young men were scared and dejected after the change in government,” the 26-year-old said. Even after they eventually returned to a semblance of their normal lives and went back out on the streets,  “A large number decided to take up fitness and bodybuilding as a distraction. A way to set their minds towards a positive goal.”

For most of the young men Azizullah sees at the gym — serial entrepreneurs, TikTok influencers, Taliban officials, and media professionals — the goal is the same as it ever was for Afghan men, “They all want to bulk, to get bigger.”

And many, he said, are willing to go to any lengths to achieve that goal, including turning to steroids.

“Too many don’t want to put in the actual work, they just want quick results,” this includes those who already pay Azizullah $150 a month for 45-minute daily training sessions. Omid, a part-time educator who works out at another high-end gym agrees. He says at least 60 percent of the guys he sees at his gym on the west side of the city “juice up.”

Read the full story: https://www.playboy.com/read/politics/the-male-aesthetics-industry-is-booming-in-afghanistan


r/afghanistan 5d ago

Documentary about asylum seeking to the UK featuring a person from Afghanistan who fled the Taliban

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r/afghanistan 5d ago

Question Is it true that Afghans love Kurds?

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I'm Kurd. I often hear that Afghans love Kurds.

I just want to know if that's true?


r/afghanistan 5d ago

Are non Pashtun- Afghanis able to be part of the Taliban ?

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r/afghanistan 5d ago

Image Silver tetradrachm coin from the Indo-Scythian Kingdom, featuring King Azes I. Minted in Gandhara (modern-day Pakistan and Afghanistan). (58 BCE)

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r/afghanistan 5d ago

Analysis Can Discussions in Cambridge Help Afghans Build a Post-Taliban Future?

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r/afghanistan 6d ago

Politics Is Persian culture at risk in Afghanistan?

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FYI: Not knowing how to mention it, I refer to Persian culture: the languages, traditions and customs of non-Pashtun ethnic groups.

Recently I have been told by a few of Afghans (Tajiks mainly) that with the current government the Persian culture is at risk.

- I believe he mentioned that the Dari language is actively thrown out of government institutions.

- Signs and symbols are being replaced with dual or Pashto only.

-The government is actively pursuing the spreading of Pashtun demographics in traditional non-Pashtun regions through migration.

I haven’t heard of read of any of these claims.
What are your thoughts on this have you come across this?


r/afghanistan 7d ago

Need a serious Advice.

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Asalaam O Alaikum, I’m in a really tough spot and could use some outside perspective.

I am a 29-year-old male, a medical doctor, and I recently got my AMC licence (finally fully qualified). I am the eldest son of 3 brothers and 3 sisters (one sister married, another engaged and getting married in a month or two). Because I’m the eldest and established, the pressure from my family to settle down is becoming unbearable.

The problem is, I have a genuine phobia of marriage. Not just the wedding, but the life after. My mind spirals with fears: What if we aren't compatible? What if I lose my independence?

But here is the biggest kicker—In our tradition, we are not allowed to meet or get to know the girl properly before marriage. Everything is based on what the families tell each other and a few brief, heavily chaperoned glances.

This terrifies me because I have seen too many "witches in human skin." I don't mean literal witches, but people who are masters at putting on a perfect act for the elders. They seem like angels to the parents, but behind closed doors, they are manipulative, toxic, or completely different. I have seen friends and relatives get trapped in miserable marriages because the woman (or man) showed their true colors only after the Nikah / wedding. How can I possibly agree to spend my life with someone based on a family meeting where she isn't even allowed to speak freely or forced to act.

And on top of that, my biggest, deepest fear is about my future generation. I faced extreme hardship, trauma, and instability growing up in Afghanistan. I am terrified of bringing children into this world only for them to face a fraction of what I endured. I worked so hard to escape that life; the thought of history repeating itself for my kids haunts me.

I feel stuck between my cultural duty as the eldest son and my internal panic.

My question to you all:

For those from similar conservative cultures, how do you vet someone without actually talking to them? How do I protect myself from making a lifelong mistake based on hearsay? And how do I explain to my parents that I am mentally not ready to be a father, when they just see me as a "successful doctor who needs to settle down"?


r/afghanistan 7d ago

No possible way?

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Afghan refugee living in iran without any documents, possible to move to another country as a refugee with family?


r/afghanistan 9d ago

Culture I'm a Japanese guy who sang the Afghan National Anthem on Ome.tv! Greetings from Japan

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https://reddit.com/link/1w2agpm/video/n2ng6p4gmgmh1/player

Salaam everyone! 👋

I'm a musician from Japan. I love learning and singing national anthems from around the world to connect with people from different cultures on Ome.tv.

Here is a quick clip of me singing the Afghan National Anthem! The reaction was so warm and wonderful, so I wanted to share it with this community.

Manana / Tashakor (Thank you) for watching!
I hope this brings a smile to your face. 🙏❤️

You can check out more of my national anthem videos here
Instagram


r/afghanistan 9d ago

Any other Pashtuns grow a stripe of grey hair?

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I swear there is a lot of us? I have a nice bunch of grey hairs growing in the middle of my hairline and it started when I was 22.


r/afghanistan 9d ago

What is one thing the out side world should know about the Afghanistan people

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Wasn't really sure how to word this I'm an american, family served in the war. My daughter has befriended a little girl whose family immigrated from Afghanistan at her school, shes only 6 and asked some questions and made me wonder what are somethings about the afgani people the world should know? Its hard to explain as an adult to a 6 year old i arranged a FaceTime with my brother who has been truly impacted by the people he always said the average people were some of the hardest working and kindest people they ever met after years of war the every day people still treated him with kindness even though he was the invader...i wish nothing but peace for the innocents still living under Talib rule.