Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Naheed Esar Malikzay

Covering for Each Other in Zanabad: The defiant widows of the hill

Naheed Esar Malikzay •

On top of a hill in Kabul’s southeast is a unique community. It is locally known as Zanabad (“Women’s Town”) and has survived all turmoil of the last decades. A group of widows started building homes there for themselves as far back as the 1990s. Initially, the people of the neighbouring communities looked down on […]

Rights and Freedoms Read more

The Killing of Farkhunda (1): The physical environment and the social types party to her murder

Fabrizio Foschini • Naheed Esar Malikzay •

40 days after the violent killing of Farkhunda, supporters gathered on Monday, 27 April 2015, to mourn and protest her death. Afghan public opinion has now reached a broad consensus over the unprecedented gravity of this murder. Yet, many questions remain as to what triggered the killing and how it was possible for such a […]

Rights and Freedoms Read more

One Day in a Year: Afghan views on International Women’s Day

Naheed Esar Malikzay •

“The celebration of 8 March is a new concept, but Afghan women’s role in society has been respected for thousands of years,” President Ghani said in his speech for International Women’s Day on 5 March 2015, three days before the date. But if that is true, women’s rights activists asked after the event, why is […]

Context and Culture Read more

Afghanistan mourns Ghazal King Jagjit Singh’s passing and the loss of its own musical excellence

Naheed Esar Malikzay •

On Monday 10 October 2011, Jagjit Singh, a legend of Indian music, passed away in Lilavati hospital in Mumbai. Hearing that heartbreaking news, Afghans have expressed their condolences and sorrows in different ways. After receiving several sympathy messages from friends and relatives, AAN’s Naheed Esar Malikzay reflects on how his music specifically and Indian music, […]

Context and Culture Read more

The first Human Rights Film Festival in Afghanistan; a collection of inhuman true stories

Naheed Esar Malikzay •

‘There are about 33 human rights film festivals around the world, however, none of them taking place in the very Middle Eastern or Central Asian Countries which are gravely affected by human right violations’, the director of AHRF (Autumn Human Rights Film Festival) Malek Shafi’i told reporters. For the first time, from 1-7 of October, […]

Rights and Freedoms Read more

Pashto Women’s Poetry – A Mirror of their Social Status?

Naheed Esar Malikzay •

“My love will gather us both together on the day of resurrection Brutes have placed stones between us in this world.” – On Friday, 16 September, the Mirman Baheer Association, a Pashtun women’s socio-cultural network, met in Kabul.* It was the third gathering of Pashto women poets by the Association and it brought together more […]

Rights and Freedoms Read more

Subscribe to receive updates from the Afghanistan Analysts Network

Sign up