Afghan Women's Support Forum

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 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 number of others at […]

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 […]

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 morning in Ishkashim district when […]

Women and girls in Afghanistan are facing a rapidly deepening humanitarian crisis marked by hunger, economic desperation, worsening health care access and growing social isolation, according to a major new gender analysis released by humanitarian organizations working in the country. The report, produced by the Afghanistan Gender Coordination Group with support from UN agencies, says […]

Statement by The Rt Hon Baroness Smith of Malvern, Minister of State (Minister for Skills) and Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities) at the UN Security Council meeting on Afghanistan. Colleagues, let me first begin by expressing the United Kingdom’s deep concern at the intensification of the Taliban’s repression.  We are appalled by […]

Remarks by UN Women Afghanistan Special Representative, Susan Ferguson, at UN Headquarters in New York, speaking from Kabul. For women and girls in Afghanistan, 2026 was already proving to be an extremely difficult year. Now, with the conflict in the Middle East and on-going hostilities with Pakistan, many are facing even more trauma and hardship. […]

Statement by UN Women Special Representative in Afghanistan, Susan Ferguson. Kabul, Afghanistan – The latest decree issued by the de facto authorities in Afghanistan further diminishes the rights of women and girls and exposes them to even greater risk of violence.           Page Navigation                                     […]

There is something profoundly defiant, almost incendiary, about Afghan women writers. When the Taliban regained control of Kabul in August 2021, images of women protesting in the streets and girls being barred from classrooms circulated around the world. Since then, regressive laws have been introduced as part of the systemic suppression of women’s public life in Afghanistan, including banning women […]

Mahfouz Zubaide Afghanistan producer Fahima Noori had big dreams when she graduated from university in Afghanistan. She had studied law, graduated from a midwifery programme and even worked in a mental health clinic. But all that was taken away when the Taliban swept into power in 2021. They banned girls over the age of 12 […]

Yogita Limaye BBC South Asia and Afghanistan correspondent Gusts of wind blew dust up off the ground as Ghulam Mohiddin and his wife Nazo walked towards the graveyard where all their children are buried. They showed us the graves of the three boys they lost in the past two years – one-year-old Rahmat, seven-month-old Koatan […]