In August 2021, the Taliban swept back into power in Afghanistan after nearly 20 years, toppling the then democratic government in a matter of days.
Adela Raz, was serving as Afghanistan’s Ambassador to the U.S., after having been the country’s first female Permanent Representative to the U.N. She suddenly found herself representing a government that no longer existed. Adela refused to recognise the Taliban’s authority and became an outspoken critic of their oppression of women and girls.
As Afghan women were systematically stripped of their rights - banned from school, erased from public life, and essentially silenced - Adela became a fierce advocate against this gender apartheid, demanding action from the international community. Today, she leads Princeton’s Afghanistan Policy Lab, working to keep Afghanistan’s future on the world’s agenda.
This is Adela’s personal story, and of her continued fight to champion the rights of women and girls.
Recorded February 2025.
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