Nadia Ghulam: The woman who disguised herself as a man for 10 years to survive ‘torture’ of Taliban

Writer Nadia Ghulam, an Afghan refugee living in Catalonia, Spain, had to disguise herself as a man to survive the ‘torture’ of the Taliban during its rule two decades ago. Her poignant story is re-emerging as a point of discussion as Afghanistan is back in the control of the militant group.

Her life, like many other Afghan women, has been marked by the consequences of a cruel civil war, hunger, and the Taliban regime.

Nadia, born in 1985, dressed like a man for 10 years just to go to work and support her family. She was able to leave Afghanistan thanks to an NGO 15 years ago for treatment for wounds caused by a bomb, but her family remains in the country.