Afghan girls, women suffer three years after US withdrawal 

Parwana Malik was sold into marriage in 2021 as Afghan families made desperate by the loss of foreign aid scrambled to survive. Nonprofit Too Young to Wed said her story is increasingly commonplace as the Taliban tighten their grip on Afghan girls and women. (Too Young to Wed) The Taliban have recently imposed more restrictions on girls and women, including a ban on education past sixth grade. Parwana Malik, far right, is among a generation of Afghan girls who have fewer rights than their mothers did. (Too Young to Wed) Rights groups are pressing Washington to speak out for Afghan girls like Parwana Malik, who was sold into marriage after the Taliban took power. Restrictive policies leave girls and women with few skills and options outside the home. (Too Young to Wed) Nonprofit group Too Young to Wed persuaded Parwana Malik’s elderly husband to return her to her family. Parwana, front right, is among seven sisters and one brother, not all of whom are pictured. (Too Young to Wed) “She's quite the character,” Too Young to Wed founder Stephanie Sinclair says of Parwana Malik, who was sold into marriage at 9. Now 11, she is near the end of her academic career under harsh Taliban rule. She wants to be a teacher or a doctor, Sinclair said. (Too Young to Wed) As Parwana nears sixth grade, the age the Taliban has ordered all girls to leave school, she carries a heavy burden on her young shoulders: the knowledge that, unless something changes, her education will soon end. (Too Young to Wed)

The hardships and heartbreak of three years of Taliban rule are reflected in the shining brown eyes of schoolgirl Parwana Malik. And on the anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, advocates say Washington should take a harder look at the plight of countless young girls who have suffered under the hard-line regime.