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WEKU
WEKU
Ruchi Kumar

He wanted his company to be the Etsy of Afghanistan. Now it has a crucial new mission

Etsy Taliban Afghanistan NPR United States
Nasrat Khalid founded a company called Aseel to sell crafts from his native Afghanistan online. He pivoted to charity work after the Taliban took over, initially drawing on cash reserves to provide shelter and food to displaced Afghans. He now works from Arlington, Virginia, where he was photographed on Aug. 31. (Mostafa Bassim for NPR)

Aseel started as Afghanistan's version of Etsy – selling jewelry, leather shoes and other crafts online to help the country's artisans make a living.

Nasrat Khalid, an Afghan entrepreneur who lives in Washington, D.C., came up with the idea in 2017. His goal was to enable people to buy beautiful objects from his homeland. The word "Aseel" is Afghan for "authentic."

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