ISLAMABAD -- Even after the Taliban overran Afghanistan in 2021, Spesali Zazai insisted she wanted to stay. But life quickly became untenable for the single mother.
Simply to move around more freely, which required a male guardian, Zazai said she tried cutting the hair of her 12-year-old daughter short so she could pass as a boy. But as the Taliban grew increasingly strict, and fearing that her past as a social activist could put her family at risk, Zazai felt she had no choice but to leave her homeland for Pakistan.
