Alice Macdonald

I completely agree with my hon. Friend. This week, girls in the UK are going to school, and it is a right that we take for granted. It is a right that so many countries take for granted. A country that bans education is putting a brake on its prospects. According to UN Women, only 24% of women are part of the labour force in Afghanistan now, compared with 89% of men. Amid this worsening economic situation, child marriage is on the rise again, with 10% of Afghan girls under the age of 15 married. There is also the issue of the right to travel and live in liberty. In August 2024, a Taliban edict banned women from leaving home without a mahram or chaperone. The crackdown has become even more draconian; it involves things that we could not imagine would even be possible, such as directives ordering women not to sing and the removal of windows through which women might be seen. The most recent action to cut internet connections across multiple provinces has shut down the last lifeline that many women and girls had to access learning. The young girl I referred to, Naila, said that since the internet outage “the silence became even heavier. It felt as if the world had drifted far away, leaving us in complete isolation. No message could reach us…It felt like we were being erased”. The impact of all these actions cannot be overstated, both for women now and for the future, and they are happening amid an ongoing humanitarian crisis: 1.4 million people face food insecurity, and 4.2 million people are internally displaced. As the Minister knows well, the crisis has been made worse by the return of Afghan refugees from Iran and Pakistan; more than 2.6 million returned in 2025 alone. A significant number had lived outside Afghanistan for generations and lacked family property or social networks to support reintegration. Women account for approximately 60% of returnees and face compounded risks. As the hon. Member for North East Fife (Wendy Chamberlain) mentioned, a chronic national health crisis is preventing women from receiving healthcare. UN Women estimates that this will increase maternal mortality by 50% this year, and that is made worse by the ban on women training to be midwives and nurses. Yet, amid all this darkness, I take hope from the courage of Afghan women and girls who continue to fight for a better future. I was fortunate enough to travel to Afghanistan in 2011 when I worked for Harriet—now Baroness—Harman, and I met numerous women who were working hard for their rights and the rights of many others. I remember visiting a domestic abuse shelter; sadly, I cannot imagine that it can function any more, and I often think about what has happened to the women there. More recently, in Parliament, I hosted the screening of “Rule Breakers”, a film about the Afghan girls’ robotics team who rose to global fame. Led by Roya Mahboob, who I am pleased was present at the screening, those girls triumphed against adversity to fulfil their dreams, and their story is a testament to the resilience and determination of Afghan women. As one Afghan woman said to me recently, women are seeing their souls die in front of them—