We Are Still Here: Afghan Women on Courage, Freedom, and the Fight to Be Heard

In this moving interview collection, filmmaker Shahalimi gathers the firsthand testimony of 13 Afghan women who experienced the rise, fall, and resurgence of the Taliban. “Between 1996 and 2001,” Shahalimi notes, “the Taliban terrorized Afghanistan and made no secret of its disregard for women.” Female education was banned and the government sanctioned violence against women, with public executions of accused adulterers, and attacks for being unchaperoned or not completely covered in public reaching all-time highs. With the fall of the Taliban in 2001, “hope for a new beginning” arose, as younger women pursued education, started new businesses, and even gained positions of political power and influence. But the withdrawal of U.S. troops in 2021 and return of the Taliban threatens to reverse all those gains. Through interviews with influential women including Hosna Jalil, who was appointed deputy minister of interior affairs at age 26; Fereshteh Forough, who created the first coding school for women so they can work from home; and world-famous singer Aryana Sayeed, who regularly receives death threats, the collection insists that women in Afghanistan “will not be silent.” The result is an inspiring portrait of perseverance in the face of cruelty and injustice. (Aug.)