Afghanistan: No Woman’s Land. The 14th Edition of the Carmignac Photojournalism Award

Kabul, Kabul, Afghanistan, February 29, 2024. Female journalists working in the office of a women-focused media.

Since the Taliban came to power in August 2021, the Afghan media landscape has been decimated.

According to Reporters Without Borders, in the three months following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, 43% of Afghan media outlets disappeared. Since then, more than two-thirds of the 12,000 journalists in the country in 2021 have left the profession.

For women journalists, the situation is far worse: forced to cover their face, to travel with a chaperone, forbidden from interviewing officials, subject to harassment and threats, more than 80% of women journalists stopped working between August 2021 and August 2023, according to Amnesty International.

Without women reporters, it is increasingly difficult to report on the situation of Afghan women, in a society where men are rarely allowed to interview women. Topics around women's rights are particularly sensitive, and the amount of pressure put on media outlets and journalists made self-censorship the new rule for reporting.
© Kiana Hayeri for Fondation Carmignac

Yamit District, Badakhshan, Afghanistan, May 10, 2024. Kheshroo's daughter and her cousin, both grade 11 students who were put out of school, committed suicide a year before by throwing themselves in the water. The family plays in puddles of water, among troops of yaks, horses and goats, in front of the Wakhan mountains, Wakhan, a region that had never been controlled by the Taliban before 2021.

© Kiana Hayeri for Fondation Carmignac

Gardi, Ghos district, Nangarhar, Afghanistan, February 13, 2024. In the absence of school buildings in Gardi Ghos District, classes are set up for students, between two main roads under the sun and on dirt ground. While boys can complete their education all the way to grade 12, classes were held for girls only until grade 6.

As of today, girls are only allowed to study until grade 6, and are barred from both high schools and universities. In some districts, locally decided by authorities, girls are barred from school above grade 3. However underground schools set up at homes, mosques or alternative spaces continue educating girls, at a high risk.

© Kiana Hayeri for Fondation Carmignac

Kabul, Kabul, Afghanistan, March 2, 2024. A group of teenage girls celebrate their friend's birthday at her house. Music and dancing have been forbidden by the Taliban but women continue to dance and celebrate in the privacy of their homes and behind the closed doors. © Kiana Hayeri for Fondation Carmignac

Jalal Abad, Nangarhar, Afghanistan, February 12, 2024. A family, recently deported out of Pakistan has temporarily settled in suburban neighbourhood of Jalal Abad in eastern Afghanistan. Hundreds of thousands of Afghans have been forced out of Pakistan following the ongoing crackdown on illegal foreigners, some of which after decades of living in Pakistan. Women and girls are the most affected by the consequences of forced displacement, with for example high rates of child marriage.

© Kiana Hayeri for Fondation Carmignac

Kabul, Kabul, Afghanistan, February 3, 2024. Girls playing in the snow in western Kabul behind an apartment block, off the main road. Since the takeover, women and girls' rights to move without a male chaperon or to go to parks have been curtailed, and very few opportunities to find joy in their daily lives remain. A snowstorm in a quiet neighbourhood of Kabul western suburb offered such a chance for an hour of playing together. Even then, an eye is always kept on the surroundings, looking for a sign of a Taliban patrol.

© Kiana Hayeri for Fondation Carmignac

Kabul, Kabul, Afghanistan, February 17, 2024. A private institute in the West of Kabul, where girls follow the American curriculum in English, but cannot obtain any Afghan official education certificate, nor can they go to university in Afghanistan, closed for women. This is a rare instance where the school has managed to secure the local Taliban's approval to shut a blind eye on the school's operation with teenage girls. 700 female highschool students study at this institute everyday under strict security measurement while two armed security guards from the community watch the gate and girls enter and exit one by one, leaving their backpacks at the entrance. Despite suicide bombers' attacks that took place before the takeover, the institute remains full of girls, whose dreams are now to leave the country to continue their education abroad.

Despite the Taliban's promises, girls high schools never reopened after the fall. As of today, girls are only allowed to study until grade 6, and are barred from both high schools and universities. However underground schools set up at homes, mosques or alternative spaces continue educating girls, at a high risk.

© Kiana Hayeri for Fondation Carmignac

Kabul, Kabul, Afghanistan, February 8, 2024. A mother is struggling to provide for her children under dire circumstances. One of her sons suffers from a painful skin condition and seizure attacks but cannot be taken to a doctor due to a lack of funds. Her family burns old fabric or clothes from neighbours for heating. She is also afraid of sending her children out to collect materials because the Taliban have detained her 12-year-old son multiple times, believing him to be a beggar: "I walked all the way to Bagh-e-Bala prison and back it was night, and cold. In the prison, they would get water but no food, and he had his boots but no clothes."

The family is facing severe financial difficulties, with five months of overdue rent at 1,500 Afghanis per month (19.50 euros). Her husband, who previously worked in a factory, is now unable to work due to a spine injury."Before the change, things were good, I could send my kids on the street to work, they could bring back some money, and my husband was able to work."

Despite the hardships, she refuses to send her children to beg for food, although they sometimes collect plastic to burn for warmth. She dreams of a better future for her daughter and wishes she could provide everything her daughter needs, especially medical care for her leg pains. "We have dignity, I don't send my kids to the neighbours to collect food... Even if we don't have food or anything to eat, we sit still and hungry, but we won't go knock on the neighbour's door to get food."

© Kiana Hayeri for Fondation Carmignac

Kabul, Kabul, Afghanistan, February 23, 2024. A group of teenage girls dance at a birthday party of their friend. Music and dancing have been forbidden by the Taliban but women continue to dance and celebrate in the privacy of their homes and behind closed doors.

© Kiana Hayeri for Fondation Carmignac

Saydabad District, Wardak, Afghanistan, February 22, 2024. Saira, 50, poses in her home in front of the banners her sons obtained after graduating from madrassas in Pakistan. On the other wall, the large white flag of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is attached. The province where she lives, Wardak, was very affected by the conflict. "People might have thought my sons are Talibs, so we used to fold these posters as pillows and sleep on them. Now they're on the walls. I'm very proud of them. Life after conflict is peaceful. In the past, we were running, our lives were running, but now we're calm, and peaceful, and quiet. I'm relaxed now, I can sleep peacefully at night. That's enough fighting. Now, we're very happy."
© Kiana Hayeri for Fondation Carmignac

Aizabad, Badakhshan, Afghanistan | May, 11, 2024. A ripped poster shows how women are supposed to cover their faces: with a burqa, or chadari, a full face covering, or with a niqab, allowing only the eyes to be uncovered.

© Kiana Hayeri for Fondation Carmignac