The female rulers, rebels and revolutionaries of Afghanistan

History buried them. This International Women’s Day, we dig them back up.

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve read the same tired words: the women of Afghanistan are voiceless and veiled—uneducated and powerless. As if we’ve spent centuries sitting in the shadows, waiting for the West to hand us a microphone. This narrative latched onto me from childhood, like an ill-fitting dress I was expected to wear. But crack open the…