My Forbidden Face: Growing Up Under the Taliban

Poignant first-hand account of life for a young Afghani woman under the TalibanLatifa was born into an educated middle-class Afghan family in Kabul in 1980. She dreamed of one day becoming a journalist and was interested in fashion, movies and friends. Then in September 1996, Taliban soldiers seized power in Kabul. Her school was closed and from that moment she became a prisoner in her own home at just 16. Latifa was now forced to wear a chadri and struggled against an overwhelming sense of helplessness and despair. In a step of defiance, she set up a clandestine school in her home for a small number of young girls. Latifa knew that she was risking her life for something that could change little. But the teaching gave her a reason to get up in the morning. With painful honesty and clarity Latifa describes the way she watched her world falling apart, in the name of a fanatical interpretation of a faith that she could not comprehend. Her voice captures a lost innocence, but also echoes her determination to live in freedom and hope. Earlier this year, Latifa and her parents escaped Afghanistan with the help of a French-based Afghan resistance group.