Exclusive | Taliban couldn’t silence her: This exiled Afghan journalist is changing lives, one story at a time

It was on August 15, 2021 that the Taliban toppled the government of Ashraf Ghani and took control of Afghanistan. In a single night, the south Asian country was plunged into a whirlwind of unsettling change. Gun-wielding Taliban members stood sentinel at street corners, while women remained locked indoors, quivering with fear.  

“That day and now, nothing has changed,” says Zahra Joya, an Afghan journalist at the helm of a news agency Rukhshana Media, who, along with her family, was airlifted out of Afghanistan in the gripping and tumultuous closing phase of the evacuation by the UK government. 

Hundreds of Afghans crowd the interior of a US Air Force C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft, as it carries them from Kabul, Afghanistan to Qatar on August 15, 2021. Picture credits: Reuters

Today, Joya is a journalist in exile, deftly steering her news agency from afar. “My colleagues in Afghanistan are all in hiding. They all had to change their names and identities to be able to practice journalism.” Joya told WION.  

Her topmost priority lies in the safety of her colleagues at Rukhshana Media. 

“Women in Afghanistan are carrying the heavy burden of the Taliban's deeds,” Joya adds. 

In her formative years, schooling options for girls were scarce in her village.  

Undaunted, Joya embraced a unique path, disguising herself as a boy for almost five years to claim her education.  

“Every day, I'd walk for two hours to get to school, and another two hours to return,” she recalls.  

“I was fortunate, my parents stood by me. In fact, my father and my uncle were the ones who came up with the idea of dressing me like a boy, and I insisted on being addressed as Mohammad,” she says.  

In Joya's school, walls and chairs were absent, replaced by the embrace of trees and the grounding of the earth. But the fervour for learning had kindled within her an ember from the very start. 

Joya has been a journalist for almost a decade. Starting from local news, she delved into investigative reporting in Kabul. Originally eyeing a career as a prosecutor, a university friend's suggestion led her to a brief stint at a local newspaper. In a matter of days, her intrigue transformed into an unbreakable bond. 

In 2020, when Joya founded her all-women newsroom, she drew inspiration to name it after Rukhshana, a 19-year-old Afghan girl who fled a forced marriage and was stoned to death by the Taliban. 

“Rukhshana died because of the Taliban's extremist view. Following her, countless other women lost their lives due to the Taliban and its dogmatic ideology. I named my newsroom 'Rukhshana' to ensure that we remember the woman who lost her life due to the Taliban's extremism and brutality towards women,” Joya explained. 

In the year 2022, Joya was named one of Time magazine’s Women of the Year for her reporting on women’s lives in Afghanistan. Angelina Jolie interviewed Joya for Time's Women of the Year feature. She appeared in the magazine alongside profiles of human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, Olympian Allyson Felix, and poet Amanda Gorman. 

Zahra Joya being interviewed by Angelina Jolie for Time's Women of the Year feature 2022. Picture credits: YouTube screengrab

While she is grateful and humbled by all the recognition and praise, a thread of profound introspection runs through her. 

“When I think about these awards and recognition, it makes me feel the power of a girl, education, and hard work. But everything dulls down in comparison to what is happening on the ground in Afghanistan. When I see girls denied basic fundamental rights, it breaks my heart,” she says. 

Zahra Joya, reporting on women's stories in Afghanistan from her asylum-seeking location in London, was honoured with the Changemaker Award by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2022, as part of the Goalkeepers Global Goals Awards. Picture credits: X (previously Twitter)

Through Rukshana Media, Joya envisions a platform that amplifies the voices of Afghan women, those marginalised to silence and excluded from public discourse. 

“I wanted to show that women, especially women from an ethnic minority like me, could be active in public life. Our goal is to create conversation around Afghan women. Most of the time in my country, women are so silenced that they do not find opportunities to discuss their problems and worries. The Afghans are tired of their war. I really hope one day my country is a peaceful place for everyone, including outsiders who can enjoy the beauty of my homeland,” she says.  

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