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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Azada Raha, from Rukhshana Media

The secret Afghan women’s book club defying the Taliban to read Orwell

Women in traditional Afghan dress, faces obscured, sit on floor in a reading club defying Taliban orders.
Every Thursday, the five friends come together – one over the phone – to discuss what they’ve been reading. They call their group ‘women with books and imagination’ Photograph: supplied

Four young women sit together, waiting for the phone to ring. When the call finally comes, their friend’s voice is crackly and hard to make out, but they wait patiently for the signal to improve so they can start discussing their chosen book.

Every Thursday, the five friends come together away from the disapproving gaze of the Taliban for a reading circle. They read not for entertainment but, as they put it, to understand life and the world around them. They call their group “women with books and imagination”.

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