Afghanistan one year on: People in survival mode since Taliban takeover - UN - BBC News
Follow how the lives of millions of people have been transformed since the Taliban seized power on 15 August 2021.
Payvand Seyedali was an education consultant working for foreign NGOs in Kabul last year, when the city fell to the Taliban. She had lived and worked there for 10 years, and decided to stay. Today she is still in Kabul and still working in the education sector.

Whereas last year, it wasn't clear what would happen under the new government, she says now "everyone is trying to make ends meet, to not starve, to hold on to shreds of hope for their children. People want jobs, they want education, they want rights - these needs are not political".

She says with people in urban areas, desperation is visible "at a level of intensity I’ve never seen before". More children are working than ever, and only a few women can be seen outside the home, she adds.

Quote Message: And those who are, whether they are afraid or defiant - [are] always hyperaware of what they’re wearing, who they are with, how they’re perceived. Being a woman outside the home is extremely uncomfortable, and forces many into self-censoring. This is not new, but it’s much worse than before." from Payvand Seyedali Education consultant And those who are, whether they are afraid or defiant - [are] always hyperaware of what they’re wearing, who they are with, how they’re perceived. Being a woman outside the home is extremely uncomfortable, and forces many into self-censoring. This is not new, but it’s much worse than before."

When it comes to girls' education, hopes have been dashed too. On 23 March this year, when girls in secondary education were due to go back, "over a million girls woke up, ate their breakfasts, put on clothes they’d set out the night before. That morning was filled with hope. The Taliban had a chance, that day, to turn sentiment in their favour.

"Instead, every school girl in the country above grade five was ordered away by a sudden decree... Secret schools are popping up, local governors and even individual public schools are taking autonomous decisions to reopen. Teachers are organising."

But a year of closures means more girls will have got married early, become pregnant or died in childbirth, she observes.