Lorenzo Tugnoli

Afghanistan: A year of Taliban rule

Last August the Taliban seized power from the internationally backed Afghan government as American and NATO troops were completing their withdrawal. After twenty years of war and foreign intervention the country was once again in the hands of the Islamist movement. Soon after the fall, Western countries froze around $9 billion in Afghan central bank assets, mostly held in the U.S., stopped sending aid and applied sanctions on the Taliban government. The country soon spiraled into poverty. Around Kabul, families where selling their house appliances for any cash they can get, account holders waited in long lines outside banks to withdraw their savings, while in the currency exchange market, traders sat in front of piles Afghan banknotes that were quickly losing their value. Hospitals in Kabul and around the country swelled with malnourished children, with many of them sent home with packets of therapeutic food because of the lack of beds. The Taliban struggled to transform from an irregular militia to a functioning government. They now had to manage the police and the justice system.

On August 2021, the Taliban seized power from the internationally backed Afghan government as American and NATO troops were completing their withdrawal. After twenty years of war and foreign intervention the country was once again in the hands of the Islamist movement.
Soon after the fall, Western countries froze around $9 billion in Afghan central bank assets, mostly held in the U.S., stopped sending aid and applied sanctions on the Taliban government.
The country soon spiraled into poverty. Around Kabul, families where selling their house appliances for any cash they can get, account holders waited in long lines outside banks to withdraw their savings, while in the currency exchange market, traders sat in front of piles Afghan banknotes that were quickly losing their value. Hospitals in Kabul and around the country swelled with malnourished children, with many of them sent home with packets of therapeutic food because of the lack of beds.
The Taliban struggled to transform from an irregular militia to a functioning government. They now had to manage the police and the justice system. While the Taliban funded their war effort through the opium trade, now they had to deal with a drug epidemic. Drug addicts crowded under bridges and on the side of the roads in Kabul, the new government started rounding them up and take them to prison-like rehabilitation centres but they were not able to stop the drug trade.
The Taliban government also started introducing regulation to implement their strict interpretation of Sharia law and some feared the return to the draconian rules that they imposed during the late 1990s. Circumstances changed mostly for women and the educated urbanites. Female students were banned to attend past 6th grade and most women working in government offices were told to stay home. The Ministry of Women’s Affairs was closed and its building turned into the headquarter of the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, the religious police.
The new rulers were not able to turn the country around in one year but they showed in more than one occasion that they are willing to shape the new Afghanistan according to the ideas they fought for.

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - OCTOBER 12, 2021: The Taliban performed stoning and executions during their previous regime in Ghazi stadium. Now the area is mostly know from the market that has appeared in the area where impoverished families sell their home appliances in order to crash money for survival. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)
FARAH PROVINCE, AFGHANISTAN - MARCH 18, 2022: Farmers stand on their opium field in Farah province. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/The Washington Post/Contrasto)
ZABUL, AFGHANISTAN - OCTOBER 18: The Kuchis, AfghanistanÕs pastoral nomads, migrate from area to area every year with their animals in search of food, water and work. The drought, this year have hit hard these nomadic communities, the ground, once flush with vegetation, now has the texture of dust. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - OCTOBER 12, 2021: A group of drug addicts gather to smoke drugs under a bridge in west Kabul. While the Taliban have partly financed their war efforts with drug production and smuggling they now have to face a local drug crisis. The Taliban have officially banned the production and use of opium. Afghanistan is the world largest producer of opium, according to UNODC it accounts for more than 80% of the world supply. The Taliban had banned poppy growing when they were previously in control of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 and the move had significantly reduced the harvest. The removal of the Islamist group from power by the U.S.-led military invasion led to a resurgence in opium poppy cultivation despite billions of dollars of investment by Washington to help Afghan authorities combat narcotics production. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - MARCH 26, 2022: A drug addict smokes methamphetamine on a street in Kabul. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)
FARAH PROVINCE, AFGHANISTAN - MARCH 19, 2022: Ephedra power is mixed with chemicals in one of the steps to make methamphetamine in a meth factory in Farah province. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/The Washington Post/Contrasto)
WARDAK, AFGHANISTAN - OCTOBER 14: Intense fighting between Taliban militants and Afghan government forces dragged on for years in the village of Dogyon. In this house Taliban militants dug tunnels to move from one building to the next during the fightings. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ The Washington Post /Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - MARCH 26, 2022: A drug addict smokes methamphetamine on a street in Kabul. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - OCTOBER 12, 2021: A group of drug addicts gather to smoke drugs near a bridge in west Kabul. While the Taliban have partly financed their war efforts with drug production and smuggling they now have to face a local drug crisis. The Taliban have officially banned the production and use of opium. Afghanistan is the world largest producer of opium, according to UNODC it accounts for more than 80% of the world supply. The Taliban had banned poppy growing when they were previously in control of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 and the move had significantly reduced the harvest. The removal of the Islamist group from power by the U.S.-led military invasion led to a resurgence in opium poppy cultivation despite billions of dollars of investment by Washington to help Afghan authorities combat narcotics production. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - MARCH 31, 2022: Patients of the rehabilitation center for drug addicts sits in the sun in the morning outside their ward. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - MARCH 24, 2022: Patients of the rehabilitation center for drug addicts receive clean clothes. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - MARCH 31, 2022: Patients of the rehabilitation center for drug addicts are taken outside ib a bus before being discharged from the hospital. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - MARCH 24, 2022: Patients of the rehabilitation center for drug addicts lays on their bed in their first period of detoxification. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - MARCH 31, 2022: Patients of the Kabul-s rehabilitation center for drug addicts sits in the sun in the morning outside their ward. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - MARCH 24, 2022: Patients of the rehabilitation center for drug addicts sits together for lunch. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - MARCH 31, 2022: A sick patients recover in the infirmary of the rehabilitation center for drug. Some drug addicts develop physical problems due to their drug use of the withdrawal symptoms. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)
FARAH PROVINCE, AFGHANISTAN - MARCH 18, 2022: Taliban fighters enter a warehouse filled with sacks of ephedra plants that they have confiscated. The plan is used to produce methamphetamine. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - SEPTEMBER 18, 2021: A Taliban militant man a checkpoint near the former US embassy in Kabul. I photographed the same checkpoint few months before while Afghan Army was in control of the place. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ The Washington Post /Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - SEPTEMBER 28, 2021: A couple walks in front of a wedding hall near the airport of Kabul. Shining wedding halls have been build all over Kabul. In recent times the Taliban have started to raid weddings in order to stop music and dancing. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ The Washington Post/Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - SEPTEMBER 18, 2021: Imal ahmadi, brother of Zamarai Ahmadi sits in one of the rooms of the house where an American Drone strike killed ten members of his family on August 29. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ The Washington Post/Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - SEPTEMBER 18, 2021: Imran, 8, nephew of Zemarai Ahmadi, was in a house nearby owned by his grandfather when he heard the explosion. Now the family moved to Zemarays' sisters house in a different area of the city. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ The Washington Post /Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - SEPTEMBER 18, 2021: Members of the Ahmadi's family look at the mingled remains of the car where Zemarai was targeted. Zamarai Ahmadi and nine members of his family (including seven children) were killed in a US drone strike in Kabul on August 29th. He was suspected of being a member of IS but was later found to be working for an American humanitarian organisation. The Pentagon later apologised for the mistake. Samim Ahmadi (right), stepson of Zemarai, was in the house when the explosion happened but suffered only minor injuries. Ajmal Ahmadi, brother of Zemarai, and his son Imran (center) were outside the house. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)
KUNDUZ, AFGHANISTAN - OCTOBER 28: A 46-year-old shopkeeper said his son was inside the Kunduz airport base when the Taliban broke through the cityÕs last defenses and surrounded the compound. The shopkeeper said his son called him the day the city fell to the Taliban, saying he had surrendered and would be home soon, but never came. The next morning the shopkeeper found his sonÕs body in a shallow ditch just outside the airport base, he had been shot multiple times in the face and chest. Fearful that his family would be punished for having ties to the previous governmentÕs security forces, he drove his sonÕs body to his familyÕs village in a neighboring district and buried him in secret. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ The Washington Post /Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - SEPTEMBER 26, 2021: Street sellers sits outside Rabia Balkhi hospital in central Kabul. After the Taliban took over, the US froze nearly $9.5 billion of Afghanistan central bank assets and the country plunged into poverty. Around Afghanistan people are selling their belongings to collect cash that is no longer provided by the banks as before. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ The Washington Post/Contrasto)
ZABUL, AFGHANISTAN - OCTOBER 19: A grocery stall along highway 1 in the outskirts of the city of Kandahar. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ The Washington Post /Contrasto)
HERAT, AFGHANISTAN - MARCH 14, 2022: A woman prepare dinner on an campfire in the evening in the Shedai IDP camp outside the city of Herat. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - OCTOBER 9, 2021: Traders out bundles of money in the currency exchange market in Kabul. After the Taliban took over, the US froze nearly $9.5 billion of Afghanistan central bank assets and the country plunged into poverty. Around Afghanistan people are selling their belongings to collect cash that is no longer provided by the banks as before. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)
WARDAK, AFGHANISTAN - OCTOBER 14: Food stalls stalls line the highway in the village of Salar. Fierce clashes between the Taliban and Afghan government forces have raged for years in the area and pushed civilian out. Now people are slowly returning and the market is becoming lively once again. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ The Washington Post/Contrasto)
HERAT, AFGHANISTAN - MARCH 15, 2022: A blind man walks in the morning in an informal settlement for IDPs in an area of the city know as Qul Urdu. The camp is located in an area along a main road and exposed to cold wind at night and scorching sun during the day. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/The Washington Post /Contrasto)
RAZIAN, AFGHANISTAN - MARCH 16, 2022: Lal Mohammed (left) hoes his land with the help of his sons in the village of Razian in Herat Province. The nearby river has been mostly dry this year and most people in the village are now facing food insecurity. Some of the causes are the recent drought, the collapsing economy of the country and the interruption of foreign humanitarian aid after the Taliban takeover. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli / The Washington Post / Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - OCTOBER 22, 2021: Men walk near the lake Qargha in the evening.The area of lake Qargha, outside of Kabul, is a popular tourist destination for families during the week end. The Taliban have recently banned men and women from visiting amusement parks on the same day and in some parts of the country from dining out together. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)
RAZIAN, AFGHANISTAN - MARCH 16, 2022: Most people in the village of Razian are now facing food insecurity. The nearby river has been mostly dry this year. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/The Washington Post /Contrasto)
RAZIAN, AFGHANISTAN - MARCH 16, 2022: Most people in the village are now facing food insecurity. Some of the causes are the recent drought, the collapsing economy of the country and the interruption of foreign humanitarian aid after the Taliban takeover. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/The Washington Post /Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - OCTOBER 10, 2021: Taliban militants guard the entrance of a police station in Western Kabul. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ The Washington Post/Contrasto)
RAZIAN, AFGHANISTAN - MARCH 16, 2022: A group of children belonging to the extended family of Lal Mohammed sits in his house before lunch. Most people in the village are now facing food insecurity. Some of the causes are the recent drought, the collapsing economy of the country and the interruption of foreign humanitarian aid after the Taliban takeover. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/The Washington Post/Constrasto)
WARDAK, AFGHANISTAN - OCTOBER 14, 2021: A Taliban militant stands near a stash of ammunitions previously used to make explosive devices. Small units of militants used to plant explosive along the main roads in the countryside to target foreign and Afghan troops. They are now patrolling the roads that they used to attack.(Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - MARCH 21, 2022: Sama (centre) is 7 months old. She needs treatment for malnutrition. The hospital in Kabul did not admit her but gave the family therapeutic food packets for home treatment. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)
BAGRAM, AFGHANISTAN - OCTOBER 9, 2021: A Taliban militants shows his pistol at a checkpoint outside the former US base of Bagram. Bagram military base and its airfield were used by the Russian army then by the US army and is now under the control of the Taliban. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - MARCH 24, 2022: Gulsoom is 8 months old. She needs treatment for malnutrition. The hospital in Kabul did not admit her but gave the family therapeutic food packets for home treatment. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - SEPTEMBER 16, 2021: The Afghanistan National Institute of Music is a school of music founded in 2010. Now the Taliban occupied the building and use it as a military base. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ The Washington Post /Contrasto )
WARDAK, AFGHANISTAN - OCTOBER 14, 2021: Taliban militants gather around an explosive device in a house previously used as a hideout by the group. Small units of militants used to plant explosive along the main roads in the countryside to target foreign and Afghan troops. They are now patrolling the roads that they used to attack.(Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - SEPTEMBER 17, 2021: Sheikh Mohammad Khalid, minister for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, speaks at Abdulrahman mosque during Friday prayer in Kabul. After the Taliban took over the capital Kabul they replaced the Ministry of WomenÕs Affairs with the ministry of ÔviceÕ and ÔvirtueÕ. The feared Taliban's morality police implemented the groupÕs austere interpretation of Islamic law during their previous government in the late 90s. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ The Washington Post /Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - OCTOBER 4, 2021: Elders discuss inside a police station in Eastern Kabul. Most cases are now discussed and solved on the spot by the police commander or the mullah of the local mosque. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ The Washington Post/Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - OCTOBER 4, 2021: A poster of a Taliban martyr is seen on a guar post outside a Police station in Eastern Kabul. Most police stations have been taken over by the Taliban who are now policing each area of the city. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - OCTOBER 4, 2021: The director of a police district in Eastern Kabul sits in his new office. Every area of Kabul is now under the control of a different group which is policing the are. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ The Washington Post/Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - MARCH 31, 2022: A Taliban fled is raised during a public ceremony in the former diplomatic enclave in Kabul. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - MARCH 31, 2022: A Taliban fled is raised during a public ceremony in the former diplomatic enclave in Kabul. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - MARCH 23: Students and taliban officials attend a ceremony for the re-opening of the schools at Amani high school, located inside the so called Green Zone of Kabul. ON the same day Taliban prevented female students to attend classes after grade 6. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - SEPTEMBER 30, 2021: A group of Taliban militants stop and check cars in the airport road in Kabul. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ The Washington Post /Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - OCTOBER 5, 2021: All inmates of Pul-e-Charkhi prison were released when the Taliban took control of Kabul. The prison used to host thousands of Taliban captured by the previous government and now some of the former inmates guard the facility. The new prisoners have been captured by the Taliban police and most of them are awaiting judgement from Taliban courts that are still in the process of being established. In most cases community judges informally deliver verdicts as the militants have done for years in rural areas. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - OCTOBER 5, 2021: All inmates of Pul-e-Charkhi prison were released when the Taliban took control of Kabul. The prison used to host thousands of Taliban captured by the previous government and now some of the former inmates guard the facility. The new prisoners have been captured by the Taliban police and most of them are awaiting judgement from Taliban courts that are still in the process of being established. In most cases community judges informally deliver verdicts as the militants have done for years in rural areas. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli for The Washington Post /Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - OCTOBER 10, 2021: Inmates wait for a decision on their case inside the prison of a police station in Western Kabul. Most prisoners were released during the Taliban take over. Now the Taliban are enforcing Islamic rules and struggling to transfer form a village-based guerrilla insurgency into a national security force to police urban areas. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - MARCH 22, 2022: Two or three premature infants share each incubator at the Hidira Ghandi hospital in Kabul. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - MARCH 28, 2022: A nurse measure a child in the admission ward for malnourished children of Indira Ghandi hospital in Kabul. Children are examined to determine their level of malnutrition but only the most severe cases are admitted into the hospital. Most children are given therapeutic food packets for home treatment. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)
KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN - OCTOBER 19, 2021: Malnutrition have soared after Afghanistan central bank assets were frozen. The paediatric ward of the central hospital in Kandahar is now overwhelmed with malnourished children. Since there is not enough space available two or three little patients share each bed.(Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - MARCH 24, 2022: Gulsoom is 8 months old. She needs treatment for malnutrition. The hospital in Kabul did not admit her but gave the family therapeutic food packets for home treatment. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)
KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN - OCTOBER 19, 2021: Malnutrition have soared after Afghanistan central bank assets were frozen. The paediatric ward of the central hospital in Kandahar is now overwhelmed with malnourished children. Since there is not enough space available two or three little patients share each bed.(Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - SEPTEMBER 22, 2021: A miniaturist at work inside an art school in Kabul. Some of the teachers still come to work even if the students have not been seen since the arrival of the Taliban in the capital. All art schools are now closed waiting to have an official ruling about the metter from the Taliban. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ The Washington Post /Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - SEPTEMBER 22, 2021: Some books that could be considered problematic for the Taliban can still be found the in the big book market in Josher in Kabul. Some of these books include volumes on religion or politics as well as holy books as the Bible. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ The Washington Post /Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - SEPTEMBER 20, 2021: Images depicting women and clean shaved men have been painted over from hairdressers and beauty parlours shop windows. Even if the Taliban have not officially requested it, owners have acted in fear of retaliation. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - SEPTEMBER 20, 2021: Images of women have been painted over outside many beauty parlours. Even if the Taliban have not ordered to delete images of women the owners of the shops often have painted over the images in fear that the Taliban might damage the shop. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - SEPTEMBER 18, 2021: A burka clad woman sits near a blast wall in an area formerly called Maasoud square. Named after Ahmad Shah Massoud, a mujahideen leader who fought against the Taliban in the '90 the square is now awaiting for a new name. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - MARCH 25, 2022: Families buy and sell silverware and household utensils in Baharistan area of Kabul. Since the economic crisis started, after the Taliban takeover, many families try to sell all their possessions to (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - SEPTEMBER 29, 2021: Bank accounts holders queue in front of Azizi bank in central Kabul from the early hours of the morning. Only few branches are open in the country and banks have limited the amount of cash that can be withdrawn each week. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli for The Washington Post)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - MARCH 25, 2022: Families buy and sell silverware and household utensils in Shamani Uzuri area of Kabul. Since the economic crisis started, after the Taliban takeover, many families try to sell all their possessions to get by. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/The Washington Post/Contrasto)
BAGRAM, AFGHANISTAN - MARCH 30, 2022: A worker sits on a pile of recycled materials on sale near the former US based Bagram. Since the Us army left some people try to get by recycling what the US left behind. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli for The Washington Post /Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - OCTOBER 1, 2021: Faithful pray in the courtyard of Abdulrahman mosque in Kabul. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ The Washington Post /Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - SEPTEMBER 16, 2021: An artist looks at paintings he recovered from the institute where he was previously working as a teacher. He is now hiding the paintings inside his house because he fears backlash from the new Taliban government. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ The Washington Post/Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - SEPTEMBER 22, 2021: The classrooms of the few art schools in Kabul are now empty. Some of the teachers still come to work even if the students have not been seen since the arrival of the Taliban in the capital. All art schools are now closed waiting to have an official ruling on matter by the Taliban. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ The Washington Post/Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - SEPTEMBER 22, 2021: A student write on the board during a lesson in Malalai high school for girls in central Kabul. Female students have been prevented to attend classes after grade 6 in some schools after the Taliban took over the country. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ The Washington Post/Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - MARCH 23: Students attend a class in Ayesha Durkhani girls school. The students in this class are attending 6th grade, the higher class the Taliban government allowed girls to attend. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - SEPTEMBER 22, 2021: Young students attend a lesson in Malalai high school for girls in central Kabul. Female students have been prevented to attend classes after grade 6 in some schools after the Taliban took over the country. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)
ZABUL, AFGHANISTAN - OCTOBER 20: Girls above 6th grade are attending classes at Bibi Khala girls high school. In Kabul and most other parts of the county, the Taliban has forbidden girls older than 12 years old from attending. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - SEPTEMBER 22, 2021: Young students attend a lesson in Malalai high school for girls in central Kabul. Female students have been prevented to attend classes after grade 6 in some schools after the Taliban took over the country. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - SEPTEMBER 26, 2021: The Afghanistan National Institute of Music is a school of music founded in 2010. Now the Taliban occupied the building and use it as a military base. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ The Washington Post/Contrasto)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - SEPTEMBER 25, 2021: Shogofa Safi, 17, a music conductor and a percussionist, was part of ANIM's orchestra. She is now waiting to be evacuated from Afghanistan for fear of repercussion from the Taliban. The Afghanistan National Institute of Music is a school of music founded in 2010. Now the Taliban occupied the building and use it as a military base. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ The Washington Post/Contrasto)
ZABUL, AFGHANISTAN - OCTOBER 20: Girls above 6th grade are attending classes at Bibi Khala girls high school. In Kabul and most other parts of the county, the Taliban has forbidden girls older than 12 years old from attending. (Photo by Lorenzo Tugnoli/ Washington Post/ Contrasto)