Afghan Women's Support Forum

Mohammad Farhaad 15 September 2026 – Solar Hijri Date: 1405/06/24 Exclusive Sources say the Taliban have suspended the education of girls over the age of 12 at the Vocational Institute for the Deaf in Kabul. Sources confirmed to the Hasht-e Subh Daily on Tuesday, September 15, that the Taliban’s Technical and Vocational Education and Training […]

17/09/2026 UNICEF has again called on the Taliban to lift all restrictions on education and allow every girl and woman in Afghanistan to return immediately to schools and universities. UNICEF stressed that during five years of Taliban rule, more than 2.6 million girls in Afghanistan have been denied access to secondary education. In a statement […]

September 8th, 2026 Haleema Hasan Executive Summary August 2026 marked the fifth anniversary of the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan, during which time the regime has systematically erased Afghan women and girls from public life. The Taliban has imposed over 160 restrictive decrees on women, denying their access to education, employment, and healthcare as […]

Kabul (AFP) – The head of the Norwegian Refugee Council aid group, Jan Egeland, criticised on Thursday what he called the “hypocrisy” of countries demanding rights for Afghan women while cutting humanitarian assistance. Afghanistan has seen a sharp decline in international aid since 2021, when the Taliban authorities returned to power. They have since imposed a […]

By Seema – September 9, 2026 ZAN TIMES When I won a government scholarship to study in Pakistan, I didn’t tell my father. Previously, I’d once won a scholarship to Bangladesh but  he didn’t let me go. This time, no matter what he said, I was coming to Pakistan to study. The night I left […]

Kawoon Khamoosh BBC World Service, Reporting from Sheberghan, Kabul and Kandahar Published 24/8/26 (Original post at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckgvk9p2n7ko ) Governor Abdullah Sarhadi gives money to treat a boy’s broken arm and hands out funds for a local mosque – then, in his office in northern Afghanistan, an astonishing exchange unfolds. A young woman tells the grey-bearded former […]

Summary The BBC is speaking to women from across Afghanistan about their daily lives under Taliban rule They include a student, a jewellery maker, a former journalist, midwives, and women flogged for alleged crimes The country’s ultra-conservative Taliban rulers have significantly restricted women’s lives since re-taking power in 2021, including a ban on education after […]

My name is David and I’m here to raise funds for Zan Times, which is a digital news and investigative female led journalist not for profit organisation. I currently teach English to Afghan women and their stories are truly heartbreaking. I also write free of charge for Zan Times with the Afghan poet Somaia Ramish. […]

The forgotten contradictions of the post-2001 republic, and the women who resisted them Mandana Hendessi Aug 07, 2026 When Kabul fell in August 2021, the world watched Afghan women disappear from classrooms, workplaces, parks and public life. It was tempting to imagine that gender apartheid had arrived suddenly, fully formed, with the Taliban. But the […]

ZAN TIMES reports This report has been published in partnership with the Guardian. When Fatima and her parents arrived at a district court in northern Afghanistan in late 2025 , she hoped a judge would finally allow her to get out of  her calamitous marriage. She had never met her husband before their arranged wedding in […]

Amidst the Taliban war on women, Zan Times’ women-led team of journalists in Afghanistan risk their lives to report vital stories for readers. The work is both dangerous and expensive and they need support. Visit the Zan Times website for more information about its work and how to support it. Zan Times.

This report has been published in partnership with the Guardian. by Zahra Nader and Aisha DownJune 18, 2026 The Taliban have ordered a sweeping ban on the use of smartphones by government officials – in what some analysts say could foreshadow broader, population-level restrictions. In a directive issued by the Taliban’s military courts and reviewed by Zan Times and […]

Press release: Date: 10 June 2026   We, a group of the people of Afghanistan, human rights defenders, civil society activists, journalists, academics, experts, women’s rights activists and other social groups, express our deep concern and sorrow and strongly condemn the recent bloody events in Herat province, which occurred following public protests against the Taliban’s new […]

Statement by Ambassador Archie Young, UK Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, at the UN Security Council meeting on Afghanistan. From: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and Archie Young CMG – Published 8 June 2026 Let me begin by expressing our deep appreciation to UNAMA for their work, including their latest report, which highlights the fragile and […]

Flora Drury & BBC Afghan Published 9 June 2026 Taliban police used live fire to disperse a rare protest against the detention of women accused of violating strict Islamic dress codes in the western Afghan city of Herat, witnesses and protesters said. Medics told the BBC two people died, but did not specify how. A […]

Posted by: Nurjehan Mawani, C.M, LL.D (Hon) Senior Fellow and Chair in Global Engagement – Massey College |Governor – International Development Research Centre (IDRC) I am thrilled to share the launch of the #Sima_Samar_Award – a global recognition of those who demonstrate extraordinary courage in defending democracy, human dignity, and civic freedoms. Created by Resilient […]

The full text of this paper can be accessed HERE: Abstract The main purpose of this study was to assess the cancer prevention and control capacity in Afghanistan. The study utilized the WHO/IAEA National Cancer Control Programmes (NCCP) Core Capacity Self-Assessment Tool to evaluate Afghanistan’s cancer control capacity, shortages, and priorities. Data collection involved site […]

Kay Summers May 5, 2026 The Taliban regained power in Afghanistan in August 2021, twenty years after their ouster by U.S. troops. Since then, all the progress for women made over the course of the U.S. occupation has been reversed, resulting in strict, fundamentalist rules, ongoing economic turmoil and severe restrictions on employment and education for women […]

by Siyar Sirat May 7, 2026 The wife of Salam Matftoon, a local singer, was shot and killed by unidentified gunmen in the northeastern province of Badakhshan, local sources said, in the latest in a series of killings reported across the country in recent days. Sources told Amu TV that that the incident happened early Thursday […]