"Girls, if they're silent when they're being married, that counts as consent... Even if in fear they don't say anything, it's considered consent."
It's a detail Stephanie Sinclair shares early in this conversation — one small example of how the architecture of child marriage in Afghanistan works, and how silence itself can be turned into a weapon against the people forced into it.
Sinclair is a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist who first travelled to Afghanistan in 2003. What she witnessed there — including encounters with young women who had set themselves on fire rather than remain in forced marriages — became the foundation for Too Young to Wed, the nonprofit she went on to found. TYTW now works with girls and families across several countries, including Afghanistan and Kenya, combining documentary photography with direct support on the ground.
In this conversation with Tahir Shah, Sinclair talks about her enduring love for Afghanistan, how the country and its people first drew her in, and the realities facing girls there today. The Scheherazade Foundation has previously supported TYTW's work, and this conversation continues that relationship.
https://tooyoungtowed.org/main/index
Azada Women, a project of The Scheherazade Foundation, funds mobile internet connections for women inside Afghanistan — one woman, one hundred dollars, one year online.
Support the campaign: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/azada-women

"Yes, we have war, yes we have conflict — but what you're seeing is not our culture. We have so much beyond that." — Tamanna Easar
In this episode, Tahir Shah speaks with two remarkable women about Afghan women's voices, their resilience, and the power of telling their own stories.
Lucy Hannah is a British writer who lived in Afghanistan in the 2000s and founded Untold Narratives — an organisation that supports Afghan women writers and has published their work in Dari, Pashto, and English translation. She talks about falling in love with the country and its people, and what moved her to create a space for those voices to be heard.
Tamanna Easar is an Afghan artist and writer now based in London. She left shortly after the Taliban takeover in August 2021. Her work has appeared in Untold Narratives' publications. She talks about the pain of separation from her homeland, the healing power of writing, and what she most wants the world to understand about Afghan women — their individuality, their strength, and everything the Taliban's rule is not.
Together, they make the case for something simple and profound: Afghan women are not just victims of what is happening to them. They are writers, artists, thinkers — and they are still here.
Azada Women funds mobile internet connections for women inside Afghanistan — £100 connects a woman for a year.
Support the campaign: crowdfunder.co.uk/p/azada-women

Untold Narratives: untold-narratives.org

📧 Contact: info@sf.charity
The Scheherazade Foundation is a UK-based cultural organisation harnessing the power of traditional stories and wisdom to address modern global challenges.
#AfghanWomen #Afghanistan #AzadaWomen #WomensRights #HumanRights #Crowdfunder

Marina Legree spent five years in Afghanistan before founding Ascend Athletics — a nonprofit that used mountaineering to develop leadership and self-confidence in young Afghan women. After the Taliban takeover in 2021, she helped relocate more than 130 Ascend alumni to safety. She knows what Afghan women are capable of. And she knows what they've been forced to find other ways to reach.
In this conversation with Tahir Shah, she talks about her time living in the country, the warmth and humour of the Afghan people, and — above all — the extraordinary appetite for learning she witnessed among women and girls who have been told, again and again, that the world is not for them.
"I really think in a generation or so we're going to have so many incredibly talented Afghan women who've just said, 'OK, I'm not allowed to physically go here or there, but let me get online and I will do everything!'"
For many of those women, the obstacle isn't a Taliban ban on the internet. It's the cost of a connection. Azada Women — a project of The Scheherazade Foundation — funds mobile data for women inside Afghanistan. A connection costs around $100 a year.
Support the campaign: crowdfunder.co.uk/p/azada-women

Ascend Athletics: ascendathletics.org

📧 Contact: info@sf.charity
The Scheherazade Foundation is a UK-based cultural organisation harnessing the power of traditional stories and wisdom to address modern global challenges.
#AfghanWomen #Afghanistan #AzadaWomen #WomensRights #HumanRights #Crowdfunder