Inside Afghanistan’s secret schools for girls

Girls study math inside a secret classroom, hidden inside a girl’s school in Afghanistan in 2026. | Kiana Hayeri / The New York Times

Aug 31, 2026

Ayesha goes to a secret school six days a week, mainly to keep seeing people outside her home. It’s the only way to avoid total isolation under Taliban rule, she says. It’s the only way to feel alive.

“Without that connection,” she said, “I don’t know what would happen to me.”

Now 18, Ayesha once dreamed of studying psychology at university. The Taliban ended that dream when they banned formal education for girls beyond sixth grade in 2022.

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