Female Afghan journalists continue their fight from abroad

Staffed by women, The Afghan Times seeks to hold the Taliban to account

Afghan journalist Salma Niazi, founder of The Afghan Times, attends an International Peace Conference in Peshawar, Pakistan, in November 2021. She fled Kabul last year to escape life under an increasingly restrictive Taliban government. (Courtesy of Salma Niazi)

SARA PERRIA, Contributing writer

February 1, 2023 08:00 JST

ISLAMABAD -- When she finds time to relax, Afghan journalist Salma Niazi likes to stroll around her new home city of Islamabad, Pakistan, and play tennis. Her husband takes pictures to send to their relatives -- the latest, snaps of her throwing white rose petals in the air.

In skinny jeans with blue sneakers and a loose headscarf, Niazi recalls how her life in Kabul -- which she fled last year -- was not so different from this until the Taliban government announced restrictions for women in the media industry. Then everything changed worryingly fast. The only option she had to safeguard her future was to leave.