Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

The Daily Hustle

The Daily Hustle has become a regular feature on the AAN website since it was launched in October 2022. These reports are short, first-person accounts that give a unique and very personal perspective on a particular aspect of life in Afghanistan today.

The Daily Hustle: Afghans flee the Iran-Israel war

Nur Khan Himmat • Roxanna Shapour •

As the conflict between Israel and Iran escalated, many Afghans who had been living in Iran opted to return to Afghanistan, fearing for their safety. The Iranian government’s current drive to deport Afghans had already accelerated the pace of ‘returns’. However, for Afghans who had lived through years of conflict in their own country, the […]

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The Daily Hustle: How to get a national ID card in Afghanistan if you’re a Kuchi 

Nur Khan Himmat • Roxanna Shapour •

Despite claims that obtaining a national identity card (tazkira) has become easier, many Afghans still encounter significant hurdles when they try to get one. The difficulties are particularly pronounced for returnees – those coming back after years in Pakistan or who were born there without ever having lived in Afghanistan – as well as for members of […]

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The Daily Hustle: Getting married, with 49 other couples 

Rohullah Sorush • Roxanna Shapour •

For many young Afghans, the dream of getting married and starting a family is stymied by a myriad obstacles on the road to their hoped-for nuptials. One of the main barriers is the high cost of weddings and the steep bride price that many fathers ask for in exchange for their daughter’s hand in marriage. […]

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The Daily Hustle: At Nawruz and Eid al-Fitr, a shopkeeper reflects on high food prices

Hamed Pakteen • Roxanna Shapour •

In a rare twist of the calendar, the first day of the Afghan New Year, Nawruz, came in the last ten days of Ramadan. These are both joyous occasions. Yet, in this instalment of the Daily Hustle, Hamed Pakteen has visited Mandawi, the busy central market in the heart of Kabul, which is filled with traders […]

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The Daily Hustle: A home school for girls is shut down 

Hamid Pakteen • Roxanna Shapour •

 Today’s Daily Hustle features a young woman who we last heard from in June 2023 when she was running a home school for girls in her village. Now, a year and half later, she has been ordered to close it. Even before the fall of the Islamic Republic, many Afghan girls had no access to education – whether […]

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The Daily Hustle: How one woman blocked from teaching now runs a thriving tailoring business 

Rohullah Sorush • Roxanna Shapour •

In this instalment of The Daily Hustle, AAN’s Rohullah Sorush hears from a woman who did most of her growing up under the first Islamic Emirate which banned girls of all ages from going to school. She came late to education, but strove to be a good student and managed to graduate from high school […]

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The Daily Hustle: The day labourer and his wife who took in a widow and her six children

Ali Mohammad Sabawoon • Roxanna Shapour •

Some tales of generosity and compassion, of tragedy, heartache and life-changing decisions, span the generations. One such story is Ruzi Khan’s, a day labourer from Helmand province, who has opened his home to a destitute widow and her six young children. While the widow is his distant cousin, her late husband was the son of […]

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Women and children walk along a street in Kabul, Afghanistan. Photo: Hoshang Hashimi/AFP, 13 September 2021

The Daily Hustle: A young women’s journey home for the summer holidays

Rama Mirzada • Roxanna Shapour •

For decades, Afghanistan has had a huge diaspora who, if they can, travel home to visit family and keep connections to their homeland alive. Since the re-establishment of the Islamic Emirate,  many Afghan women are apprehensive about returning to the country for a visit. They worry about the Emirate’s restrictions on women and how this […]

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The Daily Hustle: Going on a picnic with your family, if you’re a girl 

Rama Mirzada • Roxanna Shapour •

Going on a picnic and spending time with your family, enjoying Afghanistan’s natural beauty, is a favourite pastime for Afghan families, especially in springtime. However, since the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) has imposed many restrictions on women and older girls, public parks in the country have largely become no-go areas for them. AAN has […]

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The Daily Hustle: Eid-e Qurban, a time to reflect and be grateful

Ali Mohammad Sabawoon • Roxanna Shapour •

Today is Eid-e Qurban, also known as Eid al-Adha, the Feast of the Sacrifice, which marks the most important religious holiday in Islam. On this day, Afghans, across the country will sacrifice cows or sheep in remembrance of the Prophet Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son Ismael in submission to God’s command and of the […]

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The Daily Hustle: Why one Afghan girl decided to open her own madrasa

Ali Mohammad Sabawoon • Roxanna Shapour •

After the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan closed girls’ high schools, thousands of older Afghan girls were left behind from education. With not much to do except help with the household chores, many families decided to enrol their girls in a madrasa so that they could pursue their religious education. Many older girls, who had already […]

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Mother with newborn baby at the Tangi Saidan clinic run by the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan, in Daymirdad district of Wardak province. Photo: Elise Blanchard/AFP, 6 October 2021

The Daily Hustle: The ancient art of making surma

Sayed Asadullah Sadat • Roxanna Shapour •

In Afghanistan, surma (kohl) has been used since ancient times by both men and women to enhance the eyes, for its healing properties and to protect the wearer against the evil eye. Traditionally made by grinding stibnite rock into a fine power, the use of the black concoction to line the eyes also has a […]

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