Noriya, a young Afghan girl, was forced to dress as a boy in order to work and support her family, a reality she revealed in a viral social media video. Her story is just one example of thousands of Afghan girls who are driven into dangerous and hidden work by poverty and Taliban policies.
Since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, women’s rights to work have been severely restricted, and public arrests of young women have risen dramatically. Millions of families, including Noriya’s, have lost their only sources of income, with no effective government programs to support them.
At the same time, reports indicate that vast revenues from Afghanistan’s natural resources, including gold and precious minerals in Badakhshan, are being funneled into the pockets of Taliban-affiliated elites rather than being invested in public welfare. This systemic corruption exacerbates poverty and economic insecurity, leaving millions of Afghans exposed to hunger and deprivation.
Noriya explained that dressing as a boy was the only way to protect her sisters and earn money for her family, demonstrating how Afghan girls are forced to hide their identities and defy oppressive rules just to survive. Taliban authorities have yet to comment on her arrest, reflecting the group’s indifference to women’s and children’s rights.
Her story paints a stark picture of the destructive impact of Taliban policies on women, girls, and Afghan families. In today’s Afghanistan, poverty is no longer an accident—it is the direct result of a government that has taken both the bread of its people and the future of its daughters hostage.
Read more :Taliban’s Public Punishments Deepen Afghanistan’s Human Rights Crisis
