A survey conducted last year by three UN agencies in Afghanistan revealed a grim reality: Nearly one-fifth of Afghan women had not interacted with anyone outside their immediate families over the previous three months.
This alarming statistic underscores the severe isolation imposed on women in Afghanistan, many of whom are confined to their homes.
Forced seclusion has had a profoundly negative impact on the mental health of girls and women across the country; in the same survey, three out of four women described their mental health as “bad” or “very bad.” Lack of access to secondary and tertiary education, combined with limited employment opportunities, has led to increases in forced and underage marriages, child labor, and domestic violence, and has fueled a surge in illegal migration as women desperately seek to flee the country.
Illustration: Mountain People
Moreover, a recent Human Rights Watch report found that the Taliban’s restrictions on women’s freedom of movement and employment “have gravely impeded women and girls’ access to health services,” while bans on education “have blocked almost all training of future female healthcare workers in the country.”
Consequently, an entire generation of Afghan girls is poised to reach adulthood without any professional qualifications or essential skills.
FALLING INFLUENCE
According to the UN survey, in January last year, 90 percent of women reported having “good” or “full” influence in their households. By November last year, the number plummeted to 39 percent, reflecting a dramatic decline in women’s agency and self-esteem.
However, even as Afghan girls and women are being denied their rights to association, education, and employment, there have been several encouraging developments. In the past few years, community groups in Kabul and across the country have organized trade fairs where women showcase their wares to male and female visitors. These fairs offer more than just the typical handicrafts and tapestries found at similar events across the region; they also feature products from female-owned small businesses and workshops. In Kabul, a growing number of women-led e-commerce initiatives are enabling women to sell their goods online, improving their economic prospects.
Glimmers of hope can be found elsewhere as well. The Bread for Women project is a prime example. Conceived and led by NOVE, an Italian non-governmental organization — one of the few international organizations still operating in Afghanistan — the initiative aims to combat hunger and acute poverty by restoring traditional female-owned bakeries in Kabul’s peripheral neighborhoods.
NOVE has been navigating Afghanistan’s complicated political landscape since 2013. In its pilot stage, the project focused on providing technical and financial support for building or restoring female-owned bakeries, purchasing tandoor ovens, and offering basic training in management and accounting.
BAKERY SUPPLIES
Today, the organization supplies three bakeries with essentials such as flour, gas and firewood. Each bakery employs three women who are paid a monthly salary: a baker, an assistant and a third employee whose role is to distribute daily naan allotments to poor women and take their fingerprints to confirm receipt, as many are illiterate.
Although only three bakeries have been restored so far, they are more than just places to obtain food. These bakeries have become social hubs, offering the women who visit them a rare opportunity to leave the house, meet peers, exchange advice, share experiences and even laugh.
Many of these women come from Afghanistan’s most impoverished and vulnerable communities. They are often their families’ primary providers, either because they are widows or live with disabled husbands. With little to no employment opportunities, they carry vouchers entitling them to five naans each day.
However, this important initiative is about more than just charity: The three bakeries also have paying customers who bring their own dough. While these businesses are not yet self-sustaining, all three bakers seem determined to pursue their craft, leveraging their newfound skills and entrepreneurial spirit to improve their lives and contribute to their communities. Although they might seem like a drop in the ocean of female suffering in Afghanistan, such projects represent a promising first step toward mitigating the inhumane treatment of women and girls.
Anna Husarska, a Polish journalist and political analyst, is a former senior policy adviser at the International Rescue Committee and a former senior political analyst at the International Crisis Group.
Copyright: Project Syndicate
In the US’ National Security Strategy (NSS) report released last month, US President Donald Trump offered his interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine. The “Trump Corollary,” presented on page 15, is a distinctly aggressive rebranding of the more than 200-year-old foreign policy position. Beyond reasserting the sovereignty of the western hemisphere against foreign intervention, the document centers on energy and strategic assets, and attempts to redraw the map of the geopolitical landscape more broadly. It is clear that Trump no longer sees the western hemisphere as a peaceful backyard, but rather as the frontier of a new Cold War. In particular,
When it became clear that the world was entering a new era with a radical change in the US’ global stance in US President Donald Trump’s second term, many in Taiwan were concerned about what this meant for the nation’s defense against China. Instability and disruption are dangerous. Chaos introduces unknowns. There was a sense that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) might have a point with its tendency not to trust the US. The world order is certainly changing, but concerns about the implications for Taiwan of this disruption left many blind to how the same forces might also weaken
As the new year dawns, Taiwan faces a range of external uncertainties that could impact the safety and prosperity of its people and reverberate in its politics. Here are a few key questions that could spill over into Taiwan in the year ahead. WILL THE AI BUBBLE POP? The global AI boom supported Taiwan’s significant economic expansion in 2025. Taiwan’s economy grew over 7 percent and set records for exports, imports, and trade surplus. There is a brewing debate among investors about whether the AI boom will carry forward into 2026. Skeptics warn that AI-led global equity markets are overvalued and overleveraged
As the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) races toward its 2027 modernization goals, most analysts fixate on ship counts, missile ranges and artificial intelligence. Those metrics matter — but they obscure a deeper vulnerability. The true future of the PLA, and by extension Taiwan’s security, might hinge less on hardware than on whether the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) can preserve ideological loyalty inside its own armed forces. Iran’s 1979 revolution demonstrated how even a technologically advanced military can collapse when the social environment surrounding it shifts. That lesson has renewed relevance as fresh unrest shakes Iran today — and it should
RSS