An Afghan woman wanted to be a doctor. Now she makes pickles as the Taliban restricts women’s roles

Few jobs are still available to women. They include tailoring and making food. (AFP/FILE)
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Updated 03 July 2024
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An Afghan woman wanted to be a doctor. Now she makes pickles as the Taliban restricts women’s roles

  • Few jobs are still available to women
  • Just obtaining permission from the Taliban to work is challenging for women

KABUL, Afghanistan: Frozan Ahmadzai is one of 200,000 Afghan women who have the Taliban’s permission to work. She should have graduated from university this year in pursuit of her dream of becoming a doctor, but the Taliban have barred women from higher education and excluded them from many jobs.
Now, instead of suturing, she sews in a basement in Kabul. Instead of administering medication, she makes pickles.
Half of Afghanistan’s population now finds itself locked out of the freedom to work at a time when the country’s economy is worse than ever.
Few jobs are still available to women. They include tailoring and making food, which the 33-year-old Ahmadzai now does along with women who once were teachers or aspired to be one.
Women’s participation in the workforce in Afghanistan, always limited by conservative cultural beliefs, was 14.8 percent in 2021, before the Taliban seized power and imposed harsh restrictions on women and girls. They include banning female education beyond sixth grade, barring women from public spaces like parks, and enforcing dress codes.
Women’s participation in the workforce was down to 4.8 percent in 2023, according to World Bank data.
Ahmadzai’s eyes flare when talking about the new reality for Afghan women. “We are only looking for a way to escape,” she said, referring to the work in the basement. It’s a step, at least, beyond being confined at home.
But profits are slim for her and her 50 colleagues in the collective. In a good month, the pickle-making and tailoring businesses bring in around 30,000 afghanis ($426).
The women also have other complaints familiar to anyone in Afghanistan: The rent and utility bills are high. The sewing machines are old-fashioned. The electricity supply is erratic. Local retailers don’t compensate them fairly. They don’t receive support from banks or local authorities to help their businesses grow.
Just obtaining permission from the Taliban to work is challenging for women, though under Afghan labor laws, the process for work permits ought to be the same for both sexes.
The ministry responsible for issuing permits has banned women from its premises, setting up a female-only office elsewhere. It’s to “speed things up and make things easier” for women, said a spokesman for the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, Samiullah Ebrahimi.
There, women submit their paperwork, including their national identity card, a cover letter and a health certificate from a private clinic. That’s assuming they have the documents along with the money to cover any costs. It also assumes they can move around without being harassed if unaccompanied by a male guardian.
Last year, a top United Nations official said Afghanistan had become the most repressive country in the world for women and girls. Roza Otunbayeva, head of the UN political mission in Afghanistan, said that while the country needed to recover from decades of war, half of its potential doctors, scientists, journalists and politicians were “shut away in their homes, their dreams crushed and their talents confiscated.”
The Taliban have a different view. They have tried to provide women with a “safe, secure and separate” working environment in line with Islamic values ​​and Afghan traditions in sectors where women’s work is needed, according to ministry spokesman Ebrahimi. They can work in retail or hospitality, but it must be a female-only setting.
He said women don’t need degrees for the majority of permissible work including cleaning, security screening, handicrafts, farming, tailoring or food manufacturing.
It’s heartbreaking for Ahmadzai and her colleagues to see their expertise go unused. Several also were training to be makeup artists, but beauty parlors have been closed.
Some jobs for women remain in education and health care, so Ahmadzai has pivoted to a nursing and midwifery course so she can become a medical professional. But not a doctor. The Taliban don’t want more female doctors.
The challenges for Afghan women of obeying Taliban edicts while helping to support their families while living conditions worsen is a strain on health, including mental health.
Ahmadzai said one of the few positives about her work in the basement in Kabul is the camaraderie and support system there.
“Afghan women nowadays all have the same role in society. They stay at home, care for children, mind the house and don’t work hard,” she said. “If my family didn’t encourage me, I wouldn’t be here. They support me because I work. My husband is unemployed and I have small children.”
Salma Yusufzai, the head of Afghanistan Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry, acknowledged that working under Taliban rule is a challenge.
The chamber has almost 10,000 members, but the lack of female representation within the Taliban-controlled administration is a challenge.
Yusufzai said the chamber supports women by giving them a platform at local markets and connecting them with the international community for participation in overseas exhibitions and other opportunities.
Chamber members include key Afghan industries like carpet-making and dried fruit. The businesses are male-owned but kept alive by women who want to support the economy, which she said would collapse without them.
She acknowledged that the chamber’s limited work was only possible through engagement with the Taliban: “If I close the door then nothing will happen, nothing will remain.”
Yusufzai once had three gemstone businesses and gave them up because of her chamber role. But she can’t own them anyway under Taliban rule, so the businesses are in her husband’s name.
“Since we are living in this country, we have to follow the rules,” she said. Her smile was tight.
“From nothing, it is better to have something.”


EU warns Armenia about Russian ‘hybrid threats’

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EU warns Armenia about Russian ‘hybrid threats’

YEREVAN: The EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas urged Armenia to protect its democratic values amid “hybrid threats” from Russia on a visit to Yerevan on Monday.
Ties between Armenia and its traditional ally Russia have been strained since Azerbaijan’s 2023 offensive on Nagorno-Karabakh, in which Moscow did not intervene.
Russia has for years been the main mediator between Armenia and Azerbaijan. But Brussels has played a stronger role recently, with Russia tied up with its Ukraine invasion.
Kallas visited several days after Armenia arrested a powerful cleric accused of plotting a coup against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
She said she discussed “Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and specifically Russian hybrid activities in all countries” with Armenia’s foreign minister Ararat Mirzoyan.
“Armenia’s commitment to democracy and freedom is key. These values must be protected, especially in the face of hybrid threats, disinformation, and foreign interference,” she said.
Mirzoyan warned Moscow against interfering in its internal political affairs after the arrest of powerful cleric Bagrat Galstanyan.
But speaking in Kyrgyzstan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned Armenia against turning away from Moscow and against “attacks on the canonical, millennia-old Armenian Apostolic Church.”
“We do not put any pressure on Armenian authorities, we will wait for clarity on all these issues,” Lavrov said according to Russian news agencies.
“But we all understand that if Armenia turns away from its allies, its closest partners and neighbors, it will hardly be in the interests of the Armenian people,” he added.
Mirzoyan said Lavrov “would do better not to interfere in Armenia’s internal affairs and domestic politics,” calling on Russian officials to “show greater respect for the sovereignty of the Republic of Armenia.”
Kallas said “the EU and Armenia have never been as close as we are now.”
She announced a new EU-Armenia partnership and a 270-million-euro “resilience and growth plan for 2024-2027.” She also welcomed Armenia’s move to initiate an EU accession process earlier this year.
Kallas re-affirmed the EU’s support to normalizing relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Cyprus invites Turkiye’s Erdogan to summit despite long rift over 1974 invasion

Updated 13 min 12 sec ago
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Cyprus invites Turkiye’s Erdogan to summit despite long rift over 1974 invasion

NICOSIA: Cyprus said on Monday it would invite arch-foe Turkiye to a summit during its European Union presidency next year despite a decades-long rift over Ankara’s 1974 invasion and its backing of a breakaway state on the divided island.
Nicosia will hold the rotating EU presidency in the first six months of 2026 and plans a summit of regional leaders, including Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, on issues related to the Middle East, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides said.
“You can’t change geography — Turkiye will always be a neighbor state to the Republic of Cyprus .. Mr.Erdogan will of course be welcome to this summit to discuss developments in the area,” he told journalists in Nicosia.
Christodoulides had earlier said the same in a British podcast aired on Monday in response to a question, saying the summit was planned for April 2026.
The Turkish presidency did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the invitation to Erdogan.
Cyprus and Turkiye have no diplomatic relations and hosting a Turkish president might prove challenging both because of the diplomatic tightrope arising from past conflict and logistical issues.
The eastern Mediterranean island was partitioned by a Turkish invasion in 1974 sparked by a brief Greek-inspired coup, and Ankara supports a breakaway, unrecognized state in north Cyprus where it stations thousands of troops.
Christodoulides heads a Greek Cypriot administration that represents all of Cyprus within the EU but with its powers stopping at a ceasefire line splitting the island into northern and southern sections. Erdogan has never visited the south.


A hard right lawmaker is sworn in as Greece’s migration minister

Updated 42 min 51 sec ago
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A hard right lawmaker is sworn in as Greece’s migration minister

  • Thanos Plevris, 48, is expected to maintain Greece’s hard line in migration policy

ATHENS: A hard-right lawmaker was sworn in Monday as Greece’s migration minister, replacing a fellow right-wing political heavyweight who resigned following accusations of involvement in the distribution of European Union farm subsidies.
Five high-ranking government officials, including the previous migration minister, Makis Voridis, three deputy ministers and a secretary general, resigned last Friday following allegations they were involved in a scheme to provide EU agriculture subsidies to undeserving recipients.
The funds, which were handled by a government body known by its Greek acronym OPEKEPE, were allegedly given to numerous people who had made false declarations of owning or leasing non-existent pastures or livestock.
Thanos Plevris, 48, succeeded Voridis and is expected to maintain Greece’s hard line in migration policy. Both Plevris and Voridis joined the conservative New Democracy party in 2012, from the right-wing populist Popular Orthodox Rally, or LAOS, party.
Voridis has denied any involvement in the alleged farm subsidy fraud and said he resigned in order to clear his name.
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office, which has investigated the case, passed on a hefty file to the Greek Parliament last week that includes allegations of possible involvement of government ministers. Lawmakers enjoy immunity from prosecution in Greece that can only be lifted by parliamentary vote.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said his New Democracy party had failed to stamp out graft.
“Significant reform efforts were made,” Mitsotakis said in a social media post. “But let’s be honest. We failed.”
He said anyone found to have received EU funds they were not entitled to would be ordered to return the money.
“Our many farmers and livestock breeders who toil and produce quality products, and all law-abiding citizens, will not tolerate scammers who claimed to have non-existent pastures and livestock, or those who enabled them to do so,” Mitsotakis said.


Scorching temperatures grip Europe, putting regions on high alert

Updated 55 min 26 sec ago
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Scorching temperatures grip Europe, putting regions on high alert

ANKARA: Forest fires fanned by high winds and hot, dry weather damaged some holiday homes in Turkiye as a lingering heat wave that has cooked much of Europe led authorities to raise warnings and tourists to find ways to beat the heat on Monday.
A heat dome hovered over an arc from France, Portugal and Spain to Turkiye, while data from European forecasters suggested other countries were set to broil further in coming days. New highs are expected on Wednesday before rain is forecast to bring respite to some areas later this week.
“Extreme heat is no longer a rare event — it has become the new normal,” tweeted UN Secretary-General António Guterres from Seville, Spain, where temperatures were expected to hit 42 Celsius (nearly 108 Fahrenheit) on Monday afternoon.
Reiterating his frequent calls for action to fight climate change, Guterres added: “The planet is getting hotter & more dangerous — no country is immune.”
In France, which was almost entirely sweltering in the heatwave on Monday and where air conditioning remains relatively rare, local and national authorities were taking extra effort to care for homeless and elderly people and people working outside.
Some tourists were putting off plans for some rigorous outdoor activities.
“We were going to do a bike tour today actually, but we decided because it was gonna be so warm not to do the bike tour,” said Andrea Tyson, 46, who was visiting Paris from New Philadelphia, Ohio.
Authorities in Portugal issued a red heat warning for seven of 18 districts as temperatures were forecast to hit 43 degrees Celsius, a day after logging a record June temperature of 46.6 degrees C. Almost all inland areas were at high risk of wildfires.
In Turkiye, forest fires fanned by strong winds damaged some holiday homes in Izmir’s Doganbey region and forced the temporary closure of the airport in Izmir, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. Authorities evacuated four villages as a precaution, the Forestry Ministry said.
In Italy, the Health Ministry put 21 cities under its level three “red” alert, which indicates “emergency conditions with possible negative effects” on healthy, active people as well as at-risk old people, children and chronically ill people.
Regional governments in northwestern Liguria and southern Sicily in Italy put restrictions on outdoor work, such as construction and agricultural labor, during the peak heat hours.
In southern Germany, temperatures of up to 35 degrees Celsius (95 Fahrenheit) were expected on Monday, and they were forecast to creep higher until midweek – going as high as 39 degrees (102F) on Wednesday.
Some German towns and regions imposed limits on how much water can be taken from rivers and lakes.


North Korea’s Kim seen draping coffins with flag at Russia treaty anniversary

Updated 30 June 2025
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North Korea’s Kim seen draping coffins with flag at Russia treaty anniversary

SEOUL: North Korea’s state media showed on Monday leader Kim Jong Un draping coffins with the national flag in what appeared to be the repatriation of soldiers killed fighting for Russia against Ukraine, as the countries marked a landmark military treaty.
In a series of photographs displayed in the backdrop of a gala performance by North Korean and visiting Russian artists in Pyongyang, Kim is seen by rows of a half a dozen coffins, covering them with flags and pausing briefly with both hands resting on them.
The scene followed images of North Korean and Russian soldiers waving their national flags with patriotic notes written in Korean. Kim is seen at the gala seemingly overcome with emotion and audience members wiping away tears.
North Korea’s state KRT television aired the performance, which was attended by Russian Culture Minister Olga Lyubimova who is leading a delegation to mark the first anniversary of the strategic partnership treaty as Kim’s guest.
The performance was enthusiastically received for inspiring confidence in the “ties of friendship and the genuine internationalist obligation between the peoples and armies of the two countries that were forged at the cost of blood,” KCNA news agency said.
Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the strategic partnership treaty in June last year in Pyongyang. It includes a mutual defense pact.
After months of silence, the two countries have disclosed the deployment of North Korean troops and lauded the “heroic” role they played in Moscow’s offensive against Ukraine to reclaim the Kursk region in western Russia.