Business Daily: "Afghanistan: Women Disconnected" (October 5, 2025)

Overview

This episode of Business Daily, presented by Hannah Bewley, explores the real and devastating impact of the Taliban's return to power on women's working lives and future prospects in Afghanistan. Through firsthand accounts from Afghan women—some still in the country, some in exile—and insights from NGO leaders and advocates, the program paints a bleak but resilient picture of women's daily economic struggles, the shifting restrictions they navigate, and the personal cost of being disconnected from education and economic opportunities.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Shattered Ambitions: Women’s Hopes Before 2021

• Several Afghan women recount their previous dreams—becoming businesswomen, lawyers, and even government ministers—that have been put out of reach by the new regime.
• Fereshta (not her real name), working in tech, recalls:

  "I wanted to be a businesswoman when I was growing up, to have my own startup...to help the Afghan woman." (01:15)

2. Taliban Takeover: The Immediate Shock

• Fereshta describes the confusion and panic the day the US-backed government collapsed, and the shock of realizing women would be the first target of new restrictions.

  "My mother was saying that they can put restrictions on you or whatever, just don't be hopeless... But I was very shock." (03:11)

• Emotional toll:

  "I didn't eat lunch as well because I was like, no, everything was finished and we're done. Deep inside, we were very down." (03:13)

3. Coping: Shifts in Work and Self-Help

• Women once working in offices must now work from home, relying on online platforms for remote jobs and training, when possible.
• Fereshta shares her concern for younger generations:

  "My concern is not just for myself. My concern is about my other friends, other girls, and specifically my younger sister… what will happen to their future." (04:18)

• Small acts of resistance persist: online trainings, remote job opportunities, and informal support networks.

4. Legal and Social Barriers: The Extent of Restrictions

• 100 edicts issued, often inconsistently enforced, bar most women from education above age 12, work, and presence in public spaces without a mahram (male chaperone).
• UN estimates 78% of Afghan women are not in education, employment, or training, among the highest globally. (05:09)

5. Business Against the Odds

• Samira Syed Rahman (Save the Children, Kabul):

  "We have been working with women's organizations...support them in accessing markets, in being able to access financing..." (06:15)

• Despite the crackdown, the number of female-owned businesses registered has nearly doubled, but they are hampered by banking restrictions and reliance on informal hawala networks.

  "They can't do cash transfers, they can't transfer money in and out of the country... Afghan women owned businesses are facing the brunt of these restrictions." (06:46)

6. A Shopkeeper’s Perspective

• Zahra (not her real name), a Kabul shopkeeper, describes life under Taliban scrutiny:

  "A couple of times the Taliban came to check. They found no issue with our hijab... It doesn't make a difference. Each business has its own challenges. Whether you are a man or a woman." (08:15)

• The struggle to provide for her children alone after her husband left, the sharp decline in business since regime change, and pride in self-reliance:

  "If women get the confidence to work, it is never that hard." (08:44) "Now...there is unemployment and poverty. I can only provide bread for them. The rest they have to do without poor souls." (09:08)

7. NGOs Under Pressure

• NGOs, once a lifeline for educated women, are shrinking or scaling back projects.

  "Economically, Afghanistan will never be able to go forward until women have the right to participate." —"Miriam", NGO director (11:38)

• Miriam highlights the constant threat from authorities, traumatic experiences with raids, and the psychological toll:

  "Every day they're faced with the fear, am I going to be stopped at a checkpoint? ...On most days those things don't happen. But it's a fear that Afghan women live with every day." (13:13)

• Incident of a city office raid:

  "A raiding entity from the de facto authorities came in with really, really magnificent show of force and many guns at the same time... Everybody who was there was traumatized." (13:33)

8. Exile and Grief: Voices from Abroad

• Nadia (not her real name), a journalist now in France, describes the climate before she left:

  "They told us, hide their faces, don't ask this question, wear hijab. It was very worse for me. It makes me like very heartbroken." (15:37)

• On family left behind:

  "She told me there's no hope to continue their life at all. Even they cannot breathe well under the flag of the Taliban." (16:17)

• On her own dashed ambitions:

  "When I was child, when I was like, I had a very big role map for my future. I never imagined this situation...that's why it was very shocking time." (16:47) "After Taliban come, it was like completely high deleted. Yeah, unfortunately." (16:57)

9. Hope, Education, and Uncertainty

• Fereshta, despite the darkness, finds resilience:

  "Yeah, it is hard in this situation, but it's a sign of being strong, right? So my hope for the future of women in Afghanistan is to get them educated..." (17:57) "Although now there is nothing, you know, people are in darkness." (18:18)

10. Global and Economic Context

• World Bank estimates: Barring women from education and employment may cost Afghanistan $1.4 billion yearly.
• Center for Strategic and International Studies projects up to 5% of Afghanistan's GDP lost due to women's exclusion.
• The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Taliban leaders, accusing them of crimes against humanity for their treatment of women and girls, though the Taliban does not recognize the ICC. (18:29)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "I didn't eat lunch as well because... everything was finished and we're done." —Fereshta (03:13)
• "We need Afghan women to fully participate." —Miriam, NGO director (11:53)
• "If women get the confidence to work, it is never that hard." —Zahra, shopkeeper (08:44)
• "Economically, Afghanistan will never be able to go forward until women have the right to participate." —Miriam (11:38)
• "Even they cannot breathe well under the flag of the Taliban...she's like completely broken." —Nadia (16:17)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:15-02:02 — Afghan women's lost ambitions
• 03:01-03:39 — Taliban takeover: personal reactions
• 05:09-06:44 — Work and restrictions after 2021
• 06:15-07:52 — NGO support and business challenges
• 08:15-09:46 — Zahra, shopkeeper’s story
• 11:38-15:14 — NGO struggles and psychological fears
• 15:37-17:45 — Experiences of women who have left Afghanistan
• 17:57-18:29 — Hopes, education, and the cost of exclusion
• 18:29-end — ICC action and summary

Tone and Language

• Speakers share raw emotion—shock, heartbreak, resilience, fear, and hopes for a brighter, freer future for Afghan women.
• The tone moves from personal sadness and community concern to moments of determination and hope.
• The host and correspondents employ respectful, straightforward, and empathetic language.

Conclusion

"Afghanistan: Women Disconnected" bears witness to the loss of economic and personal freedoms for Afghan women under Taliban rule, the economic cost of these policies, and the resilience women continue to show through self-organized initiatives, international support, and dreams for future generations—even in the face of darkness.