Archive · 15 Aug 2026
Mahbouba Seraj leaves Afghanistan, urges women not to lose hope
Mahbouba Seraj is a brave woman who has spent many years helping women and girls in Afghanistan.
Five years ago, the Taliban took control of the country and stopped women from going to school, working, or taking part in public life.
Ms Seraj ran a safe home for women who were being hurt or needed protection.
In December 2025, the Taliban closed her safe home and moved the 33 women who lived there to a government facility.
Ms Seraj is sad about this and says the women were taken by force, not by choice.
She has decided to leave Afghanistan so she can tell the world what is happening to women there.
She also said that punishing the country with sanctions only hurts ordinary people, not the leaders.
Before she left, she told girls and women in Afghanistan not to lose hope.
She asked them to believe in themselves and to remember that kind people still exist.
She hopes the situation will change and become more humane.
Women's rights activist Mahbouba Seraj, 78, is leaving Afghanistan to campaign for Afghan women's rights from abroad.
The Taliban closed her shelter, the Afghan Women Skills Development Centre, in December 2025 and its 33 residents were moved to a government facility.
Seraj says that five years after the Taliban took Kabul on August 15, 2021, women still lack access to education, jobs, and public participation.
She criticised international sanctions, saying they hurt ordinary Afghans, especially women and children, rather than the Taliban government.
She urged Afghan women to stand strong and not lose hope, warning those in power that 'everything comes to an end'.
- Who
- Mahbouba Seraj, 78, a prominent Afghan women's rights activist and founder of the Afghan Women Skills Development Centre.
- What
- Seraj announced she is leaving Afghanistan to seek international attention for Afghan women's rights after the Taliban shut down her shelter for abused women.
- When
- Five years after the Taliban took Kabul on August 15, 2021; her shelter was closed in December 2025.
- Where
- Afghanistan — she will relocate abroad to continue her campaign.
- Why
- Because the Taliban closed her shelter, which she called the most traumatic incident of her life, and she felt she could no longer achieve progress for women inside Afghanistan.
Women's rights activists
Authorities and international community
International engagement with the Taliban
Women's rights activists
Seraj condemns the EU's June meeting with a Taliban delegation in Brussels, saying such engagement gives legitimacy to a regime 'that hasn't recognised half of its own population' and is driven by 'vested interests' such as returning refugees.
Authorities and international community
International governments engage with the Taliban as a practical step, for example to arrange the return of Afghan refugees who went to Europe, and to keep channels of dialogue open.
Economic sanctions on Afghanistan
Women's rights activists
Seraj argues sanctions worry her because the price is paid directly by the people of Afghanistan, especially women and children, while the Taliban government remains on top.
Authorities and international community
The international community uses sanctions as a tool to pressure the Taliban government and hold it accountable for its policies.
Removal of shelter residents
Women's rights activists
Seraj says the 33 shelter residents were taken by the Taliban's Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs by force and not of their own will, and that she should have the right to run her shelter.
Authorities and international community
The Taliban frames its actions as protecting and caring for the women under Islam and Sharia, saying they are looked after in its facilities.
- Activist
- Mahbouba Seraj, aged 78
- Organisation
- Afghan Women Skills Development Centre (AWSDC)
- Shelter closure
- December 2025
- Residents affected
- 33 women taken by force to a Taliban Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs facility
- Kabul takeover
- August 15, 2021
- Recognition
- TIME 100 list (2021); Nobel Peace Prize nomination (2023)
- EU-Taliban talks
- EU hosted a five-member Taliban delegation in Brussels in June this year
- Departure plan
- Leaving Afghanistan to campaign for women's rights from abroad