The stakes are high for Afghanistan’s women

RECENTLY MET A YOUNG AFGHAN REFUGEE IN ROME who had been months from qualifying as a doctor when the Taliban overthrew the Afghan government in August 2021. Her older sister was studying dentistry at university. Her two younger sisters were doing brilliantly in school. Overnight, they and 19 million other Afghan women and girls lost their right to go to high school or university, their right to work, and their freedom of movement. As we spoke, she hugged her father, who’d worked for decades as an expert in rural development in Afghanistan. He left everything behind when he fled with his family. With tears streaming down her face, she told