Afghanistan's Top High School Graduate Fears for Her Future
Voice of America
Salgy Baran got the highest score in all of Afghanistan on her university entrance exams this year, but she has no answers for what comes next.
The 18-year-old wants to stay and become a doctor, but as with so many other Afghans, those plans were plunged into doubt when the Taliban rolled into the capital of Kabul earlier this month, capping their stunning takeover of the country. Taliban leaders say women and girls will be able to attend school and work in accordance with Islamic law — without providing specifics — even as other prominent members of the militant group have sneered at the idea of coed classrooms and hinted at more reactionary measures. “I am not afraid right now, but I am concerned about my future," Baran told The Associated Press in a video interview from Kabul. “Will they allow me to get an education or not?”Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah on May 27, 2024. Fire rages following an Israeli strike on an area designated for displaced Palestinians, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, in this still picture taken from a video, May 26, 2024. Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah on May 27, 2024. A member of the bomb squad of the Israeli police collects debris after a rocket fired by Palestinian militants struck in the Israeli city of Herzliya on May 26, 2024.