Since the Taliban swept to power in August 2021, I had travelled to Afghanistan several times as an international correspondent for the BBC. The shambolic nature of their takeover and the little experience the one-time insurgents had in running a country meant I was able to freely travel to places that were once deemed the most dangerous on Earth.
I was now heading back to the country, following a two-week break in Sydney to visit my parents. I was slightly nervous about making this journey. A lot had changed since my last visit in June 2022. Women had been banned from universities, from public parks, from going to gyms; they could no longer travel long distances in the country or abroad without a male chaperone. The Taliban had also issued an edict stating that, unless it was absolutely necessary, they should refrain from leaving their homes.
The flight to Kabul is always an emotional one for me. I’ve been back and forth to the Afghan capital more than 15 times over the past 15 years. Each time feels like the first time. I have a deep connection with this city. It is where I was born almost 40 years ago. It is where my parents fled from when I was just six months old, locking up their home at first light in 1984 and never looking back. They travelled over the mountains, by foot and horseback using people smugglers and local tribesmen to guide them to Pakistan. Eventually they would settle in Australia.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der June 2023-Ausgabe von The Australian Women's Weekly.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der June 2023-Ausgabe von The Australian Women's Weekly.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
Hitting a nerve
Regulating the vagus nerve with its links to depression, anxiety, arthritis and diabetes - could aid physical and mental wellbeing.
Take me to the river
With a slew of new schedules and excursions to explore, the latest river cruises promise to give you experiences and sights you won’t see on the ocean.
The last act
When family patriarch Tom Edwards passes away, his children must come together to build his coffin in four days, otherwise they will lose their inheritance. Can they put their sibling rivalry aside?
MEET RUSSIA'S BRAVEST WOMEN
When Alexei Navalny died in a brutal Arctic prison, Vladimir Putin thought he had triumphed over his most formidable opponent. Until three courageous women - Alexei's mother, wife and daughter - took up his fight for freedom.
The wines and lines mums
Once only associated with glamorous A-listers, cocaine is now prevalent with the soccer-mum set - as likely to be imbibed at a school fundraiser as a nightclub. The Weekly looks inside this illegal, addictive, rising trend.
Jenny Liddle-Bob.Lucy McDonald.Sasha Green - Why don't you know their names?
Indigenous women are being murdered at frightening rates, their deaths often left uninvestigated and widely unreported. Here The Weekly meets families who are battling grief and desperate for solutions.
Growing happiness
Through drought flood and heartbreak, Jenny Jennr's sunflowers bloom with hope, sunshine and joy
"Thank God we make each other laugh"
A shared sense of humour has seen Aussie comedy couple Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall conquer the world. But what does life look like when the cameras go down:
Winter baking with apples and pears
Celebrate the season of Australian apples and pears with these sweet bakes that will keep the midwinter blues away.
Budget dinner winners
Looking for some thrifty inspiration for weeknight dinners? Try our tasty line-up of low-cost recipes that are bound to please everyone at the table.
