Afghan Girl Disguised as Boy to Support Family Under Taliban Rule

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The author is an Afghanistan-based female journalist, trained with Finnish support before the Taliban take-over. Her identity is withheld for security reasons

Nooria, a 13-year-old Afghan girl, appears in a video in which she says she disguised herself as a boy to work and support her mother and sisters under Taliban restrictions on women. Credit: Learning Together.

KABUL, May 19 2026 (IPS) - Nooria is a young girl who, because of poverty and the absence of a man in her family, had to dress in boys’ clothes so she could work and feed her family. It was not a choice, it was survival. But she was eventually caught by the Taliban.

A widely circulated video on social media in early February 2026 shows part of Nooria’s story, though the exact date of the footage is not clear. Many people online believe it was recorded and published recently. From what is said in the video, it appears that Nooria had been wearing boys’ clothes for about four years, which suggests she may have been doing so since the beginning of Taliban rule in Afghanistan.

During questioning, the thirteen-year-old is treated like a criminal, not a child. The Taliban officer keeps asking her whether her clothes and her hair are those of a woman or a man. Each time, she answers in a quiet and pleading voice. She says she had no choice. She says she did it for her mother and her sisters, so she could work and support them, because they had no one else.

Since they regained power in 2021, the Taliban have banned women from participating in the labour market and confined them to the home.

In the video, Nooria repeatedly stresses that she had no choice. She had to wear men’s clothes and work in order to feed her mother and sisters. Yet the Taliban officer keeps pressing her with the same questions: “are you a man or a woman, and who do your clothes and hair resemble?”

Here is a portion of the video conversation, originally recorded in Pashto, with a Dari translation. Nooria sits in a dark corner, her face innocent and very vulnerable. A Taliban officer behind the camera shines a harsh light on her and questions her in an intimidating tone. Throughout the conversation, Nooria tries to make him understand that she is acting out of necessity.

Taliban: What is your name? Tell me your name.
Nooria: Nooria.
Taliba: Is Nooria your real name?
Nooria: Yes.
Taliban: Which province are you from?
Nooria: I am from Ghor province.
Taliban: Which district?
Nooria: From Nad Ali district.
Taliban: Where exactly in Nad Ali?
Noria: I am from Zarghun.
Taliban: By what name are you known around here?
Nooria: The people in the market call me Noor Ahmad.
Taliban: Are you wearing men’s clothes?
Nooria: Yes.
Taliban: Are you a man or a woman right now? Explain your situation in your own words.
Nooria: I am a woman, but I wear these men’s clothes out of necessity. I wear them because I must, to enable me work and provide for mother and my sisters. I have no one else to fall on for help. I had to wear this shirt out of necessity and for survival.
Taliban: How long have you been working in the café?
Nooria: It has been three years.
Taliban: Three years? Whom do you work with?
Nooria: With Hikmatullah.
Taliban: How much does Hikmatullah give you per month?
Nooria: At first, he used to give me seven thousand afghanis (USD109.48). But later, I asked him to help me with a little more because it was not enough. He added three thousand, so now it is ten thousand(USD156.40). For the past eight months, he has been giving me ten thousand and that includes his help.
Taliban: Okay, so these clothes you are wearing, are they men’s or women’s?
Nooria: Right now, they are men’s. I wear them because I have to, out of necessity.
Taliban: Look at your hair. Is this the hair of a man or a woman? Take a look yourself—is it man’s or woman’s?
Nooria: I have no one except God. I did this not out of desire but out of necessity. My father has passed away.

In this forced confession video, Nooria says she is thirteen years old and does not know who reported her to the Taliban or why. She explains that she acted only to save her life and feed her mother and sisters.

The video of Nooria’s forced confession went viral on social media, drawing widespread reactions from users across multiple platforms.

Gulchehra Yaftali, a women’s rights activist, shared Noria’s photo on her personal page and wrote: “This image is a blatant crime. A girl has been forced to hide her female identity for over three years to work under the terrorist and misogynistic Taliban regime, just to keep her fatherless family from going hungry. By denying women access to education, work, and public life, the Taliban have pushed them into the shadows and taken away their right to live with dignity.”

It was not the first time a girl in Afghanistan had to disguise herself in boys’ clothes out of necessity. During the first Taliban regime, many households without men resorted to dressing their daughters as boys so they could leave the house safely, have a male guardian, and work to support their families. Even in the current Taliban regime Nooria is not the only girl forced to take this step to protect her family and survive.

Despite my efforts, I was unable to interview Nooria’s relatives or acquaintances. In most cases involving the Taliban, people are too afraid to speak and do not want to risk talking to the media.

In spite of that, I still managed to talk with Noorullah (not her real name), a resident of Ghor province, who gave me the background story of Nooria and her family.

According to her, after Nooria’s mother lost her husband, she left Nad Ali village with her daughters and moved to Ghor. Since they were not well known in that locality, they could not find a male guardian. She therefore had to dress her daughter as a boy and send her to work in the market.

Initially, her daughter Nooria worked in a dairy shop, and later went to work at Hikmatullah’s restaurant.

“Hikmatullah was a good man”, Noorullah says. “He would give Nooria a ride home on his motorcycle in the evening, and whenever he took his own children to school, he would also bring her along on the way to the restaurant.”

I could not get any comments from the Taliban because in most cases involving women, they do not comment to the media. Repeated attempts to obtain comment are often met with silence.

Nooria says at the end of the video confession that Hikmatullah, the restaurant owner for whom she worked, did not know she was a girl. It remains unclear what the Taliban may have done to him, I was not able to find any information about his situation.

It is also not known what happened to Nooria after the video was released. Many human rights activists and social media users believe the Taliban may have forced her into marriage, as was done during their previous rule. However, despite all efforts, no one has been able to find any information about her current situation.

Meanwhile, a number of Taliban critics, women’s rights activists, former government officials, human rights advocates, and social media users have condemned this action, calling it inappropriate. They point out that the Taliban once carried out suicide attacks disguised in women’s clothing. But now, when a girl wears men’s clothes simply to protect and support her family out of necessity, because of restrictions imposed by the Taliban, they respond with such appalling treatment.