Grounded Afghanistan women’s search for space on Earth

As the world rejoices in the triumphant return of astronaut Sunita Williams—celebrating the resilience of women who defy gravity and expectations—another reality unfolds in the shadows.

Thousands of miles away, in a land where hope is suffocating, Afghan women have vanished from public life.

Their disappearance or erasure is not by accident. It is not by choice either. By all accounts, it is by a forceful hand that has turned their existence into a death-like situation.

Since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, the rights of Afghanistan's women have not just been curtailed. They have been systematically stripped away. What was once a slow erosion of freedom has now become a flood of despair. Confinement is their new normal. Education is forbidden. Work is unattainable. Their world has been reduced to the walls of their homes.

The United Nations continues to issue calls for the restoration of women’s rights. Yet, the appeals are met with silence.

Diana Farzan is an Afghan woman now residing in the United Kingdom. Safe yet restless, she watches from afar as the lives of women of her nations are shattering under the weight of selfish decrees. Her parents, one of her brothers, and two of her sisters live in Afghanistan and they are witness to the sad lives around them.

Diana Farzan.

“Ever since I can remember, Afghan women have lived with suffering and pain,” Diana reflects. The latest restrictions, she says, are the most brutal yet, a slow burial of an entire gender. “Every day, a new law strips women of their basic rights,” she says. “No one hears their voice.”

The reality is suffocating. Women are denied education beyond the sixth grade. Employment is out of reach. Leaving home without a male guardian is prohibited. The enforcement of the hijab is absolute. “The world knows what is happening,” Diana laments, “yet no one is stepping forward to be the voice of Afghan women.”

Bilal Mustafa, an investigative journalist, summarises the worsening plight of Afghan women since the Taliban’s return. Of all the draconian measures imposed, he says, the ban on education is the most devastating.

“Girls and women are prohibited from secondary and higher education,” he explains. “This doesn’t just limit their own future, it cripples the entire country’s development.”

The exclusion from the workforce is equally crushing. Women have been pushed out of jobs, plunging families deeper into poverty and increasing their dependency on male relatives. Legal protections have disintegrated, exposing women to rising domestic abuse, forced marriages, and persecution.

“Institutions that once protected women’s rights have been dismantled,” Mustafa says. “There is no system left to protect them.”

Hope flickers in the darkness. Afghan women, despite the suffocating conditions, refuse to surrender. Underground schools persist, offering secret lessons to girls who dare to dream. Online platforms provide an education to those willing to risk discovery. Exiled Afghan women and international organisations continue to advocate, pressing for change, providing direct assistance, and keeping the stories of these women alive.

“Amidst all this, Afghan women continue to resist,” Mustafa says. “They have not given up.”

Online platforms provide an education to those willing to risk discovery. Exiled Afghan women and international organisations continue to advocate, pressing for change, providing direct assistance, and keeping the stories of these women alive

Diana too is clinging to hope. “Afghan women are steadfast,” she says. “They believe that one day, they will emerge from these dark days and reclaim the rights that were stolen from them.”