Image: © Omar Sobhani / Reuters Safura never had the chance to hear her first child cry. She entered the maternity ward of Herat Regional Hospital with great hope. It was meant to be the place where her child’s life began, but it became the end of a dream. Safura, 21, says she had hoped to have a son who would one day stand beside his disabled father. But that hope was buried amid overcrowding, inadequate facilities and the failure of doctors to provide timely care. She says: “I wish there were doctors. It is called a hospital, but there are no facilities or services. My baby was born but died. I came with so much hope, but I am returning with my child’s body because there are very few doctors and no one provides care.” In the corridors of Herat’s maternity ward, Safura’s account is not an exception. It is part of the daily reality faced by women who come to the facility to save their own lives and those of their babies. Azita, another woman who lost her baby, says extreme heat and the absence of basic cooling facilities caused the death of her newborn daughter. She says: “Although life and death are in God’s hands, the rooms were overcrowded with patients. There was not even a fan, and it was extremely hot. My little girl died because of this.” Rubika also never had the chance to see her child breathe. She attributes her baby’s death to a shortage of specialist doctors and midwives. She says: “There are many patients, but we have no doctors. When universities are closed, doctors cannot be trained in mosques and madrasas. My baby died before birth because there was no doctor.” A Maternity Ward That Can No Longer Accommodate Life Image: © Kobra Akbari / AFP According to information provided by healthcare workers at the facility, between 200 and 250 women visit Herat Regional Hospital each day to give birth or receive obstetric and gynaecological care, while the ward’s official capacity is only 100 beds. One doctor at the hospital, who asked not to be named because of security concerns, says that two patients are sometimes placed in one bed, while some women are forced to wait for hours on the floor or outside the rooms. The doctor says: “We have 100 beds, but on some days the number of births reaches 120. There are not enough facilities. When as many as 250 patients visit each day, we are no longer able to cope.” According to the doctor, nearly 3,000 babies are born at the maternity ward each month. However, the number of newborn deaths is the greatest concern. The doctor says that, on average, around 20 babies die each day after birth, while nearly 80 others are stillborn. According to the doctor, these figures demonstrate the scale of the crisis at one of western Afghanistan’s largest healthcare facilities. Newborn Deaths, the Heavy Cost of Excluding Girls from Education © AFP This tragedy is unfolding in Herat as the Taliban have, for nearly five years, closed universities to thousands of Afghan women and girls, many of whom were expected to become the country’s future doctors, midwives, nurses and healthcare specialists. Afghanistan was already facing a severe shortage of female healthcare workers, whose presence is vital in obstetric and maternity care. However, the Taliban’s restrictions on education have also halted the training of a new generation of doctors and midwives. Today, the consequences of these policies can be seen in the faces of mothers who have lost their children at Herat’s maternity ward and heard in the exhausted voices of doctors struggling to cope with large numbers of patients using minimal resources. When girls are excluded from classrooms and universities, the crisis does not remain confined to educational institutions. Years later, it emerges in delivery rooms, emergency wards and beside patients’ beds, where no doctors remain to care for them. Between Cries and Silence Dozens of babies are born each day at Herat’s maternity ward. For many others, however, life ends before it begins. For Safura, Azita and Rubika, the statistics have no meaning. They do not count their children as numbers. Behind every figure is a child who was meant to grow up, walk, speak and have a future, but who never had the chance to live amid inadequate facilities, overcrowding and the gradual collapse of Afghanistan’s education and healthcare systems.

Image: © Omer Abrar / AFP A number of citizens in different provinces of Afghanistan say the Taliban are using mosques, domestic media, the education system and street surveillance to shape society according to their own interpretations and laws. They believe this process has restricted individual freedoms and is having a profound impact on the minds of children and adolescents. Zulaikha Faizi, a resident of Takhar province, told Zan News that the Taliban use every opportunity to promote their ideology. She said: “My child goes to the mosque, and when he returns home, everything he talks about is what the Taliban have said. Taliban officials deliver speeches on television, radio stations broadcast programmes and religious songs approved by them, and people are also forced in the streets to behave according to their rules.” According to her, this situation is increasingly exposing children and adolescents to propaganda and ideological teaching. Najla Munawar, a female teacher in Kabul, also says the Taliban have introduced sweeping changes to the education system, which she believes have affected both the curriculum and teaching methods. She added: “The Taliban have even changed the way lessons are taught. A child who still has little understanding of the world is confronted with a worldview defined by the Taliban. Many textbooks have been changed, and the educational environment has also taken on an ideological character. If this continues, it could have serious consequences for the future of society.” Meanwhile, some sociologists warn that the continuation of these policies could have long-term effects on Afghanistan’s social structure. Faridon Qazizada, a sociologist, said: “The minds of children and adolescents are like a blank page and should be developed through knowledge, awareness and human values. If education is based on coercion, the elimination of intellectual diversity and ideological indoctrination, its consequences will become visible in future generations. Such a process could lead to the spread of violence, reduced tolerance and restrictions on critical thinking in society.” In recent months, numerous reports have emerged about the imposition of social restrictions, changes to educational content and increased monitoring of citizens’ behaviour in different parts of Afghanistan. The Taliban, however, have repeatedly insisted that their measures and regulations are based on their interpretation of Islamic Sharia and are intended to reform society. Critics say that the continuation of these policies, alongside sweeping restrictions on education, the media and civil liberties, could create serious challenges for Afghanistan’s social future and lead to the emergence of a generation increasingly exposed to ideological teaching.

Symbolic image: AI-generated / Zan TV By Mursal Qaisari Sometimes I think that perhaps the heaviest thing an Afghan migrant carries is not a passport, a visa or even the suitcase brought from home. The heaviest burden is being Afghan. I am a third-year international relations student in Pakistan. Like any other student, I attend classes in the morning, study late into the night, worry about exams, miss my family and work towards a better future. The greatest difference between me and my classmates lies in one thing: whenever someone asks me, “Where are you from?”, my answer means more to them than a simple response and sometimes becomes the beginning of a misunderstanding. A few months ago, while returning to my dormitory after visiting my sister, the taxi was stopped at a checkpoint. The police officer was initially speaking to the driver when he noticed me. I do not know how, but I think he realised that I was not Pakistani. He did not ask where I was from. He simply said, “I think you are Afghan.” Although I had all my legal documents with me, my heart trembled because I was alone. I said, “Yes, I am Afghan.” He then asked for my documents one by one. First, I showed him my student card and dormitory card so he would know that I was an international student living legally in Pakistan. But he insisted, saying, “Legal documents.” He meant my visa and police registration document. Fortunately, I had everything with me and showed them to him. I understand that checking documents is part of the responsibility of security forces and that no country can maintain security without enforcing the law. As an international student, I also consider it my duty to respect the law. But what troubled me was not the law itself. It was the feeling I experienced while it was being enforced. During those few minutes, I felt that before they saw me as a student, they saw me as an Afghan. I felt that I had to prove I was not a threat to anyone. After checking my documents, they showed them to another officer and photographed all of them. I could not even ask why. They then returned my documents and said, “You may go.” That night passed, and I thought perhaps it was something that had happened only once and would not be repeated. But a few weeks later, the same thing happened again. Once again, I was returning after visiting my sister. I rarely leave the university or dormitory alone, but it was my sister’s birthday, and I wanted to be with her so she would feel less lonely and far from our family. I had to return at night because the final semester exams were approaching. On the way, the taxi was stopped again. This time, the police officer asked me, “Where are you from?” At first, I said, “I am an international student.” He smiled and asked again, “From which country?” I remained silent for a moment because I knew what was coming. I said, “I am from Afghanistan.” He immediately asked for my documents. Unfortunately, I did not have a printed copy of my renewed visa with me. I only had the file on my phone. As I searched through the folders on my phone for the file, my hands trembled. Not because I lacked the document, but because I did not want anyone, even for a few minutes, to think that my presence was illegal. Since that day, I have repeatedly asked myself: why do we Afghans always feel that we must explain ourselves more than others? Why do we sometimes have to speak about the legality of our presence before introducing our personality, education and dreams? For years, Afghanistan has been associated in the world’s mind with war, suicide attacks, migration, the Taliban and crisis. This image has been repeated so often that people sometimes forget that Afghanistan is not only war. Afghanistan is the thousands of students studying at universities around the world. Afghanistan is a girl who, despite every hardship, continues to fight for education. Afghanistan is young people whose only dream is that one day their country will be known for knowledge and humanity, not for news of war. Our pain is not that we are asked for documents or that the law is enforced. Our pain is that we sometimes feel our nationality has become a prejudice before it is simply a nationality. Perhaps no one notices that brief look, the pause of a few seconds or the change in tone. But for someone who has experienced it repeatedly, each one is a small wound, a wound that cannot be seen but slowly accumulates in the heart. Despite all this, I still say with pride that I am Afghan. I belong to Afghanistan, with all its wounds. I am proud of my language, my culture, my people and my memories. But sometimes I wish for the day when someone asks me, “Where are you from?”, and I smile and say, “Afghanistan”, and nothing changes, not their expression, not their tone and not the distance that suddenly appears between us. I do not want anyone to pity me for being Afghan. I only hope that one day being Afghan will be neither a reason for pity nor an excuse for suspicion. It should simply be a nationality, just as every other person’s nationality is only one part of their identity, not a judgement about their character. Perhaps the greatest dream of an Afghan girl is to have a life without fear. Perhaps an even greater dream is that one day, wherever in the world she is asked, “Where are you from?”, she can proudly say, “Afghanistan”, and the only response she receives is an ordinary smile, not a look that forces her once again to prove that she is only a student, only a human being, and guilty of nothing except being Afghan.

Source: AfghanistanNDMA/X The Taliban’s disaster management authority has announced that at least 20 people have died following heavy rainfall and flooding in Parun, the capital of Nuristan, and several other areas of the province. The authority said on Monday (20 July) that, according to preliminary figures, more than 80 people were injured and over 100 others remain missing. It said the number of casualties could change and rise. Local Taliban officials said the floods had also caused widespread loss of life and property damage. In recent months, parts of Afghanistan have experienced severe flooding, damaging homes, agricultural land and infrastructure and affecting large numbers of residents.

Source: MSF_Afghanistan / X Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF, has announced that a 28-year-old woman in Balkh has given birth to five babies. The organisation said on Monday (20 July) that the woman, named Nafisa, gave birth to the quintuplets at Abu Ali Sina Regional Teaching Hospital in Mazar-e-Sharif. According to the organisation, all five babies were born prematurely and with low birth weights. After birth, they were transferred to the neonatal intensive care unit for treatment and monitoring. The babies remained in intensive care for nearly eight days. After their health gradually improved, they were transferred to the general neonatal ward. Nafisa said: “Today, all five of my babies are alive and healthy. They have started breastfeeding, and their jaundice has also cleared.” Médecins Sans Frontières has supported Abu Ali Sina Regional Teaching Hospital in Mazar-e-Sharif since August 2023. Its teams work in the paediatric emergency department, neonatal ward and paediatric intensive care unit. The programme aims to reduce child and newborn mortality in northern Afghanistan. Premature birth and low birth weight increase the risk of health complications in newborns. In such cases, immediate access to specialised care can play a crucial role in saving their lives.

Image: UNICEFAfghanistan/2021/Bidel The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, has announced that around 4.9 million mothers and children in Afghanistan will need nutrition support in 2026. The agency warned that timely action could save the lives of many mothers and children and prevent the malnutrition crisis from worsening. OCHA said on Monday (20 July) that millions of mothers in Afghanistan continue to fight to protect their children’s health and future despite the risk of malnutrition. According to United Nations figures, nearly 3.7 million children under the age of five in Afghanistan will face acute malnutrition this year. Of these, around 942,000 children are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition and face a serious risk of death. Around 1.2 million pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers will also face acute malnutrition. The World Food Programme says Afghanistan is experiencing the sharpest rise in malnutrition ever recorded in the country. According to the agency’s estimates, around 17.4 million people face severe food insecurity. The agency has identified repeated droughts, the economic crisis, the forced return of migrants, earthquakes and declining humanitarian assistance as the main factors driving hunger and malnutrition in Afghanistan. Funding cuts have also limited mothers’ and children’s access to treatment. The World Food Programme says that under current conditions, it can provide services to only one quarter of children who need treatment for malnutrition and one third of pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers in need of assistance. Women and children are among the groups most vulnerable to hunger and malnutrition in Afghanistan. Declining international aid, widespread poverty and Taliban restrictions on women’s lives and employment have further weakened families’ ability to obtain sufficient food and access healthcare services.

Sent to ZAN TV The Women’s Movement Network has described the international community’s silence and inaction over the forced deportation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan as “shameful”. The network says thousands of Afghan women and men are trapped between the threat of deportation and a return to Taliban rule. In a statement, the network said the United Nations, the UN Refugee Agency, the Human Rights Council, governments claiming to defend human rights and other international institutions have a moral and humanitarian responsibility towards refugees facing serious risks. The statement said that while Afghan women have been deprived of their most basic rights under Taliban rule, some international actors continue to engage with the group and normalise relations with it. The Women’s Movement Network said this silence and engagement have emboldened the Taliban and placed the Afghan people, particularly women, at even greater risk. The network also condemned the silence of former officials of the republic, politicians, leaders and influential Afghan figures. The statement said: “Those who held the highest positions of power for years and now live peaceful and comfortable lives in safe countries remain silent while millions of Afghan citizens pay a heavy price for past decisions, failures and policies through displacement, uncertainty, imprisonment, poverty and exile.” The Women’s Movement Network said these individuals cannot absolve themselves of moral and historical responsibility for Afghanistan’s current situation. It described their silence over refugee deportations, the repression of women and human rights violations by the Taliban as “another betrayal of the Afghan people”. Another part of the statement criticised the Pakistani government’s policy towards Afghan refugees. The network said Pakistan hosted millions of Afghan citizens for years while maintaining close relations with the Taliban. However, following increased tensions between Islamabad and the Taliban, refugees have been turned into instruments of political pressure. According to the network, women protesters, civil society activists, journalists, human rights defenders and other Taliban opponents are paying the price for these disputes. Those returned to Afghanistan could face arrest, torture, enforced disappearance and even death. The Women’s Movement Network warned that the mass deportation of refugees without an individual assessment of their circumstances places vulnerable people’s lives at risk. It said returning people to a place where they face persecution and abuse violates the principle of non-refoulement. The statement stressed that women protesters, journalists, human rights activists, artists, judges, former security personnel and others pursued by the Taliban must be exempted from deportation and receive urgent protection. The Women’s Movement Network called on the Pakistani government to immediately halt the deportation of people facing serious risks and grant them protective exemptions. It also called on the United Nations, democratic governments and international institutions to provide safe and legal pathways for the relocation of people at risk and take practical action to protect Afghan refugees. Pakistan launched a large-scale process to return undocumented migrants in October 2023, with Afghan citizens making up most of those targeted. According to the International Organization for Migration, more than 2.5 million Afghans returned from Pakistan between September 2023 and 15 June 2026. More than 211,000 people have also been deported since 1 April 2025. Human Rights Watch reported in April 2026 that police raids, arbitrary arrests and refugee deportations had increased amid rising tensions between Pakistan and the Taliban. The organisation said journalists, human rights activists, Taliban critics and people associated with the former government face persecution and abuse if returned. The Women’s Movement Network warned that every day of delay could place more lives at risk and said the international community must not once again abandon Afghan women and other vulnerable refugees.

Image: © Claire Harbage / NPR Hamid Karzai, the former president of Afghanistan, has again called for education opportunities to be provided for girls and boys. He says universal education and the training of skilled professionals could prevent the spread of illiteracy, poverty and social crises in Afghanistan. Karzai wrote on his X account on Wednesday (15 July), referring to UNICEF’s latest report on rising child malnutrition, that protecting children’s health is essential for Afghanistan’s future. In a report published on 12 July, UNICEF warned that around 3.7 million children under the age of five in Afghanistan face a growing risk of malnutrition. The agency called for urgent action to protect children’s nutrition, with a focus on children under two, and to strengthen health and social services. Karzai said the responsible authorities and international organisations must adopt serious and coordinated programmes to prevent the risk from increasing. He added that one of the essential conditions for reducing Afghanistan’s long-term problems is providing universal education for all children, both girls and boys, and training skilled professionals. This is not the first time the former Afghan president has called for schools and universities to reopen to girls. He has previously warned that the continued exclusion of girls from education would weaken Afghanistan’s human capacity and increase the country’s dependence on foreign aid. Since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban have banned girls from education above the sixth grade and women from attending universities. Afghanistan is now the only country in the world where girls and women are barred from secondary and higher education. Nearly 2.2 million girls have been prevented from continuing their education beyond primary school. UNICEF has warned that the continued ban on girls’ education and restrictions on women’s employment could leave Afghanistan without more than 25,000 female teachers and health workers by 2030. This would further weaken women’s and children’s access to education and healthcare. While millions of children face malnutrition, poverty and exclusion from education, the Taliban have so far failed to respond positively to widespread domestic and international calls to reopen schools and universities to girls.

Source: Bakhtar News Agency Taliban officials in Bamyan have asked journalists to highlight the regime’s achievements and cooperate with relevant institutions to help strengthen the Taliban regime. Bakhtar News Agency, a media outlet controlled by the Taliban, reported on Wednesday (15 July) that Hayatullah Muhajir Farahi, the Taliban’s Deputy Minister for Publications at the Ministry of Information and Culture, asked journalists during a training seminar in Bamyan to effectively present the “achievements of the Islamic Emirate” to the public. He claimed that Afghanistan has made “significant achievements” in the economic, military and political sectors since the Taliban returned to power, and said media outlets should introduce these achievements to the public by selecting appropriate topics. Taliban officials at the meeting also said that dozens of new media outlets had begun operating since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan and that steps had been taken to address journalists’ concerns and proposals. Gul Haider Shafaq, the Taliban governor of Bamyan, also asked journalists to cooperate with relevant institutions in implementing Islamic rulings and to work towards the “strengthening of the Islamic system”. These remarks come as journalists continue to be arrested, media outlets remain under pressure and restrictions on women journalists continue to expand. The Afghanistan Journalists Center says that between May 2025 and May 2026, at least 150 violations of media freedom, including threats, arrests, violence and censorship, were recorded in Afghanistan. The organisation has described the situation of independent media as critical and said pressure on media outlets to follow the Taliban’s preferred narrative has increased. Several journalists also remain in Taliban prisons. According to a list published by the Afghanistan Journalists Center, Shakib Ahmad Nazari, Bashir Hatif, Abuzar Sarsam Sar-e-Puli and Hamid Farhadi are among those still detained by the Taliban. Shakib Ahmad Nazari, a journalist who worked with Japan’s NTV network, was arrested by Taliban intelligence in Kabul in July 2025. A Taliban military court later sentenced him to three years in prison. His case was linked to reports about girls’ exclusion from education, restrictions on women’s employment and violence against women. Reporters Without Borders says Afghanistan’s media have come under Taliban control and the country’s media landscape has been stripped of independent and critical voices. The organisation has stressed that the repression of journalists has steadily intensified.

Image: AI-generated Following an increase in Taliban restrictions on women’s clothing in public places, including health facilities, a number of residents in Herat say these restrictions have made it difficult for mothers and sick children to access medical services and have put their lives at risk. A number of mothers in Herat have told Zan News that officials from the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice have prevented them from entering hospitals because they were not wearing a burqa, even when their children needed urgent treatment. Sofia, 19, says she took her sick child in critical condition to Herat Regional Hospital, but was not allowed to enter because she was wearing a long coat and did not have a burqa. She told Zan News: “When we arrived, my child could barely breathe. They said because you do not have a burqa, you cannot go inside. My child was dying in my arms.” She adds that she was forced to look around for a burqa, while her child’s condition was worsening every moment. Guldasta, another mother in Herat, says she went to a government health centre for her baby’s routine vaccination, but Taliban officials prevented her from entering. She says: “My husband was with me too, but they said there is no permission without a burqa. I had to borrow a burqa from a nearby house so I could vaccinate my child.” Women’s rights activists warn that the strict enforcement of dress rules in health facilities could have serious consequences for the health of women and children. Salima Haqdost, a women’s rights activist, says: “When a mother cannot freely go to a health centre, the first victim is the child.” This comes as the Taliban arrested a number of women in Herat in May this year on charges of failing to observe the group’s required dress code. Following these arrests, residents of Herat’s Jebrael area staged a protest, but the protest was suppressed by Taliban forces. UNAMA has said the Taliban arrested at least 30 women in Herat. The Taliban have repeatedly said that rules on women’s clothing have been imposed within the framework of “Islamic Sharia” and that their aim is to “preserve Islamic values”. However, the group has so far provided no clear explanation on how these rules should be enforced in medical emergencies. Since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, Afghanistan has faced a worsening economic crisis and shortages of health services and facilities. International organisations have repeatedly warned of the growing risk of maternal and child mortality. In such conditions, a number of families in Herat say Taliban restrictions on women’s clothing have made access to health services more difficult for mothers and sick children, increasing concerns about the consequences.