Khatera, 33, an Afghan police woman who was blinded after a gunmen attack in Ghazni province, speaks during an interview in Kabul, Afghanistan October 12, 2020. Picture taken October 12, 2020. REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail 

Afghan girls cover their faces as they ride on swings during the first day of the Muslim holiday of the Eid al-Adha, in Kabul, Afghanistan August 11, 2019. REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY 

EDITORIAL USE ONLY - NO COMMERCIAL OR BOOK SALES. A young Afghan woman shows her face in public for the first time after
5 years of Taliban Sharia law as she waits at a food distribution
centre in central Kabul November 14, 2001. Under its strict
interpretation of Islam, the Taliban ordered all women hidden behind
head-to-toe burqas. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis

AS 

Female soldiers Mohazama Najebi, 18 (R), and Sahar Ibrahimi, 25 (L), from the Afghan National Army (ANA) pose for a picture after shooting exercises at the Kabul Military Training Centre (KMTC) in Kabul, Afghanistan October 26, 2016. REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail SEARCH "KABUL TRAINING" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "THE WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

Afghan women's rights activists chant slogans during the funeral ceremony of Farkhunda, an Afghan woman who was beaten to death and set alight on fire on Thursday, in Kabul March 22, 2015. The 27-year-old woman killed by an angry mob in front of police in the Afghan capital last week for allegedly burning a copy of Islam's holy book was wrongly accused, Afghanistan's
top criminal investigator said on Sunday. REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Newborn children who lost their mothers during the yesterday's attack lie on a bed at a hospital, in Kabul, Afghanistan May 13, 2020. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY 

Afghan women mourn inside a hospital compound after a suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan December 28, 2017. REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY 

Female students of American University of Afghanistan hug each other as they arrive for new orientation sessions at a American University in Kabul, Afghanistan March 27, 2017.REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail 

Members of Afghan robotics girls team which was denied entry into the United States for a competition, work on their robots in Herat province, Afghanistan July 4, 2017. REUTERS/Mohammad Shoib 

Afghan female engineers work on a map of the ruined Darul Aman palace in Kabul, Afghanistan October 2, 2016. Picture taken October 2, 2016. REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail

Shamsia Alizada,18, who has come top in the country's university entrance exam poses for a picture after an interview at her house in Kabul, Afghanistan September 25, 2020. REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail 

Fakria Azizi, a member of the Zohra orchestra, an ensemble of 35 women, practises during a session, at Afghanistan's National Institute of Music, in Kabul, Afghanistan April 4, 2016. Playing instruments was banned under Taliban rule in Afghanistan, and even today, many conservative Muslims frown on most forms of music. Living in an orphanage in the capital, Kabul, 19-year-old Negin Ikhpolwak leads an ensemble of 35 women that plays both Western and Afghan musical instruments. In a country notorious internationally for harsh restrictions on women in most areas of life, Negin's story highlights a double challenge. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood SEARCH "ORCHESTRA KABUL" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "THE WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Female students of American University of Afghanistan attend new orientation sessions at a American University in Kabul, Afghanistan March 27, 2017.REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail 

Noor Zia, 40, poses for a photograph with her daughter Saba Ahmadi, 11, at their home in Kabul February 13, 2014. Noor, who is a teacher, studied until she was 28. Her ambition was to become a doctor, but she couldn't afford the fees. She hopes her daughter will become a well-known, highly skilled doctor. Saba wants to go to university, and would like to become a renowned lawyer. On March 8 activists around the globe celebrate International Women's Day, which dates back to the beginning of the 20th century and has been observed by the United Nations since 1975. The UN writes that it is an occasion to commemorate achievements in women's rights and to call for further change. Picture taken February 13, 2014. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: SOCIETY EDUCATION)

ATTENTION EDITORS: PICTURE 10 OF 32 FOR PACKAGE 'WOMEN'S DAY - MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS'
TO FIND ALL IMAGES SEARCH 'REUTERS MOTHERS DAUGHTERS' 

Khatira Ahmadi (R), 20, producer of Zan TV station (women's TV), adjusts the headscarf of a presenter before recording in Kabul, Afghanistan May 8, 2017. Picture taken May 8, 2017. REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail 

Tattoo artist Soraya Shahidy, tattoos a client at her beauty salon in Kabul, Afghanistan November 10, 2020. Picture taken November 10, 2020. REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail 

An Afghan girl practices a traditional dance at an Afghan Child Education and Care Organization center (AFCECO) in Kabul, Afghanistan March 3, 2019. Picture taken March 3, 2019. REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail 

An Afghan woman walks along a street covered with snow on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan February 7, 2017. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY 

Hanifa Doosti (C), 17, and other students of the Shaolin Wushu club show their Wushu skills to other students on a hilltop in Kabul, Afghanistan January 29, 2017. REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail SEARCH "WUSHU" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY 

Afghan paraglider Zakia Mohammadi, 21, flies in Kabul, Afghanistan September 14, 2015. Mohammadi is one of two women in a group of young Afghans taking to the skies of a capital where military helicopters and surveillance balloons are a far more familiar sight. Paragliding is an expensive pastime, however, in a city where the average wage is about $200 a month. Even a middle-class Afghan will find it tough to afford the $500 cost of two weeks of training, while paragliding equipment costs $5,000. Getting to the tops of hills takes hours of climbing in a four-wheel drive vehicle, in the absence of proper roads. Picture taken September 14, 2015. REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail

Girls, who are part of Afghan Mobile Mini Circus for Children (MMCC), participate in a juggling competition in Kabul, Afghanistan August 12, 2015. The MMCC, founded by David Mason from Denmark, teaches cooperation and creativity to children scarred by years of war in Afghanistan. Despite the dangers, the project has grown so popular that it now runs centres in ten provinces and has hundreds of regular students. The circus makes visits to internally displaced persons' camps, schools, orphanages, and holds annual festivals. The children are taught the skills of juggling clubs, walking on stilts and acrobatics. Picture taken August 12, 2015. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood 

Masooma Alizada, a member of Afghanistan's Women's National Cycling Team walks with her bicycle in Kabul February 20, 2015. Afghanistan's Women's National Cycling Team has been breaking new ground for women's sports and pushing the boundaries of what is - and is not - acceptable for young women in the conservative Muslim country. Under the Taliban in the 1990s, women in Afghanistan were excluded from public life, banned from going to school or stepping outside their home without a male family member. Women's rights have made gains since the hardline Islamist group's ouster in 2001, but observers worry that progress is at risk as gender-based violence persists and women remain under-represented in politics. REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: SPORT SOCIETY CYCLING TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

PICTURE 8 OF 24 FOR WIDER IMAGE STORY 'AFGHANISTAN'S WOMEN RACERS'

SEARCH 'AFGHANISTAN CYCLING' FOR ALL IMAGES 

Disabled Afghan women play basketball at the Orthopaedic Center of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Kabul, Afghanistan February 7, 2020. Picture taken February 7, 2020. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani 

An Afghan girl plays with a rope on a hilltop in Kabul, Afghanistan May 18, 2015. REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail

Sharbat Gula, the green-eyed "Afghan Girl" whose 1985 photo in National Geographic became a symbol of her country's wars, arrives to meet with Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani in Kabul, Afghanistan November 9, 2016. REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Zarmina Ahmadi, 22, a female soldier from the Afghan National Army (ANA) looks out from a bus window at the Kabul Military Training Centre (KMTC) in Kabul, Afghanistan October 26, 2016. REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail SEARCH "KABUL TRAINING" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "THE WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY 

Female Afghan National Army (ANA) officers attend their graduation ceremony at the Kabul Military Training Centre August 24, 2014. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: MILITARY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) 

Colonel Jamila Bayaaz talks on the phone at her office before an interview in Kabul January 15, 2014. An Afghan policewoman took charge of a district in the capital Kabul this week, such an unusual and dangerous appointment in a country where women have few rights that her bosses gave her four bodyguards. Bayaaz, who joined the force more than 30 years ago, heads one of Kabul's busiest shopping districts. Picture taken on January 15, 2014. REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: CRIME LAW TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) 

An Afghan girl who was tortured for months after refusing prostitution lies on a hospital bed in Kabul December 31, 2011. Sahar Gul, 15, was brutally tortured, beaten and locked in a toilet by her husband's family for months after she refused to become a prostitute, officials said on Saturday. She was in critical condition when she was rescued from a house in northern Baghlan province last week, and doctors said her recovery could take weeks. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: CRIME LAW HEALTH TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) 

Relatives carry the body of one of the female judges shot dead by unknown gunmen in Kabul, Afghanistan January 17, 2021. REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY 

Anisa Mangal holds a photo of her daughter Mena Mangal, an Afghan journalist and parliamentary adviser, who was recently killed in Kabul, Afghanistan May 14, 2019. Picture taken May 14, 2019. REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail 

Afghan girls stand at the site of a suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan February 1, 2016. Ten people were killed and 20 wounded, most of them civilians in Monday's suicide bomb attack outside a police station in a busy area of western Kabul, Afghan Deputy Interior Minister Ayub Salangi said in a Twitter post. REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Teacher Mahajera Armani and her class of girls pose for a picture at their study open area, founded by Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), outside Jalalabad city, Afghanistan September 19, 2015. Nearly three years after Taliban gunmen shot Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, the teenage activist last week urged world leaders gathered in New York to help millions more children go to school. World Teachers' Day falls on 5 October, a Unesco initiative highlighting the work of educators struggling to teach children amid intimidation in Pakistan, conflict in Syria or poverty in Vietnam. Even so, there have been some improvements: the number of children not attending primary school has plummeted to an estimated 57 million worldwide in 2015, the U.N. says, down from 100 million 15 years ago. Reuters photographers have documented learning around the world, from well-resourced schools to pupils crammed into corridors in the Philippines, on boats in Brazil or in crowded classrooms in Burundi. REUTERS/Parwiz PICTURE 19 OF 47 FOR WIDER IMAGE STORY "SCHOOLS AROUND THE WORLD"SEARCH "EDUCATORS SCHOOLS" FOR ALL IMAGES 

Farahnaz Forotan, 26, an Afghan journalist poses for a picture in Kabul, Afghanistan April, 3, 2019. Picture taken April 3, 2019. REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail 

Afghan women attend a consultative grand assembly, known as Loya Jirga, in Kabul, Afghanistan April 29, 2019. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani 

Afghan women stand at a kiosk during the inauguration of "Spring of Holy Quran" exhibition during the month of Ramadan, in Kabul, Afghanistan June 25, 2015. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood 

Kanaz, 21, gets out of a car after a practical driving lesson in Kabul August 14, 2014. Kabul is one of the world's fastest growing cities and its streets are increasingly blocked by cars and buses. In the city's private driving schools, students pay a $60 fee for a 45-day course, which includes oral and practical driving tests at the country's Traffic Department. Some of the women who have signed up say learning to drive is a way to escape unwanted gazes and physical harassment on the cramped, crowded minibuses that are often the only method of urban public transport. REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: EDUCATION SOCIETY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY TRANSPORT)

ATTENTION EDITORS: PICTURE 12 OF 26 FOR WIDER IMAGE PACKAGE 'BEHIND THE WHEEL IN KABUL'

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Afghan mothers visit a health clinic in Eshkashem district of Badakhshan province, northeast of Kabul, April 23, 2008. Women die in childbirth every day in Afghanistan, a country with one of the world's highest maternal mortality rates. About 1,600 Afghan women die in childbirth out of every 100,000 live births. In some of the most remote areas, the death rate is as high as 6,500. Picture taken April 23, 2008. To match feature AFGHAN-HEALTH/MOTHERS REUTERS/Ahmad Masood (AFGHANISTAN) 

An Afghan midwife looks at newborn babies at Cure International's hospital in Kabul May 8, 2012. Better healthcare and more girls attending school have knocked Afghanistan from its position as the worst place on earth to be a mother, Save the Children said in a major report on Tuesday, but stressed the precarious nature of any gains. REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: HEALTH SOCIETY) 

An Afghan family travelling on a bus watch a protest to condemn the killing of 27-year-old woman, Farkhunda, who was beaten with sticks and set on fire by a crowd of men in central Kabul in broad daylight on Thursday, in Kabul March 24, 2015. REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail
TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

An Afghan girl holds an umbrella as she sits on a grave at a cemetery in Kabul, February 12, 2015. REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: SOCIETY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) 

An Afghan woman holds up her ink-stained finger after voting at a polling station in Kabul June 14, 2014. Afghans headed back to the polls on Saturday for a second round of voting to elect a successor to President Hamid Karzai in a decisive test of Afghanistan's ambitions to transfer power democratically for the first time in its tumultuous history. REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS) 

Robina Jelali, an Afghan candidate for the parliamentary election speaks on her phone at her office in Kabul September 7, 2010. Twenty-five-year-old Robina Jelali, an ex-Olympic runner and now head of a women's charity in Kabul, said Afghanistan's deeply conservative nature alone made it harder for women at the elections. Picture taken September 7, 2010. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: ELECTIONS POLITICS) 

Afghan women wait in line to cast their votes at a polling station in Kabul June 14, 2014. Afghans headed back to the polls on Saturday for a second round of voting to elect a successor to President Hamid Karzai in a decisive test of Afghanistan's ambitions to transfer power democratically for the first time in its tumultuous history. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) 

An Afghan woman looks into a compact mirror as she waits to receive her voter card at a voter registration centre in Kabul March 30, 2014. Afghan presidential elections will be held on April 5. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) 

Female Afghan National Police (ANP) officers aim their weapons during a drill at a training centre near the German Bundeswehr army camp Marmal in Mazar-e-Sharif, northern Afghanistan December 11, 2012. German police is mentoring the training program for ANP, as part of an ongoing International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: MILITARY CONFLICT TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) 

Afghan female prisoners sit on their bed at Herat's prison for women, western Afghanistan, December 8, 2013. Foreign aid donors have ensured regular meals, heating and healthcare in Herat's prison for women, but those arrangements are now at risk and fears that its female prisoners may be abandoned are growing as the prison's main benefactor, the Italian Provincial Reconstruction Team, winds down operations alongside most foreign troops.The government has shown little interest in protecting hard-won rights for women and most of its limited funds will be devoted to fighting a growing Taliban insurgency. Picture taken December 8, 2013. To match story AFGHANISTAN-PRISON/ REUTERS/Omar Sobhani (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: CRIME LAW POLITICS SOCIETY) 

An Afghan doctor explains the use of condoms to a group of women addicts at a counseling session at the Nejat drug rehabilitation centre, an organisation funded by the United Nations providing harm reduction and HIV/AIDS awareness, in Kabul January 29, 2012. With little funding and no access to substitution drugs such as methadone, treatment is rudimentary at Nejat for a problem that is growing in a dirt-poor country riven by conflicts for more than three decades. Opiate consumption in Afghanistan, where it has long been a medication but in recent years has been used increasingly for recreation, is also on a sharp rise. Nejat estimates around 60,000 women in Afghanistan regularly take illegal drugs, including hashish and marijuana. Shrouded in stigma, female drug users is a topic that is almost never mentioned in Afghanistan. Picture taken January 29, 2012. To match Insight AFGHANISTAN-WOMEN/DRUGS REUTERS/Ahmad Masood (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: DRUGS SOCIETY HEALTH) 

An Afghan policewoman holds a baton during riot training in Kabul October 3, 2004. Kabul's Provincial Police's Quick Reaction Force is being trained by the U.S. forces early on Sunday to cope with civil disturbances during the country's first ever-presidential vote on October 9. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood AM/CP 

Afghan women practise inside a boxing club in Kabul December 26, 2011. Female boxing is still relatively unusual in most countries, but especially in Afghanistan, where many girls and women still face a struggle to secure an education or work, and activists say violence and abuse at home is common. Many in this conservative society still consider fighting taboo for women, and the country's first team of female boxers deal with serious threats. Picture taken December 26, 2011. To match feature AFGHANISTAN-BOXING/
REUTERS/Ahmad Masood (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: SPORT BOXING SOCIETY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) 

A female soccer player controls a ball during a training session at the Golab Trust Sport Complex in Kabul March 10, 2014. Despite decades of conflict in Afghanistan, and several recent militant attacks, the country's capital Kabul is home to a vibrant youth scene of musicians, artists, athletes and activists. Shopping malls and cafes stand in the city, which is nonetheless beset by infrastructure problems and instability. Afghanistan is preparing for an election on April 5 that should mark the first democratic transfer of power in the country's history, but it has been hit by a tide of violence as the Islamist Taliban movement has ordered its fighters to disrupt the vote and threatened to kill anyone who participates. Picture taken March 10, 2014. REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: SOCIETY POLITICS SPORT SOCCER)

ATTENTION EDITORS: PICTURE 31 OF 48 FOR PACKAGE "THE MODERN FACE OF KABUL"
TO FIND ALL IMAGES SEARCH "KABUL NIKOUBAZL" 

An Afghan female power-lifter demonstrates during a local sport ceremony in a stadium in Kabul March 8, 2014. Despite decades of conflict in Afghanistan, and several recent militant attacks, the country's capital Kabul is home to a vibrant youth scene of musicians, artists, athletes and activists. Shopping malls and cafes stand in the city, which is nonetheless beset by infrastructure problems and instability. Afghanistan is preparing for an election on April 5 that should mark the first democratic transfer of power in the country's history, but it has been hit by a tide of violence as the Islamist Taliban movement has ordered its fighters to disrupt the vote and threatened to kill anyone who participates. Picture taken March 8, 2014. REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: SOCIETY POLITICS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY SPORT)

ATTENTION EDITORS: PICTURE 28 OF 48 FOR PACKAGE "THE MODERN FACE OF KABUL"
TO FIND ALL IMAGES SEARCH "KABUL NIKOUBAZL" 

Afghan singer Aryana Sayeed performs during a "Peace Concert" organised by a youth organisation in Kabul October 19, 2013. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: ENTERTAINMENT) 

Afghan women take pictures during an election rally in support of their President Hamid Karzai, who is seeking a second term in the country's upcoming presidential election, in Kandahar province August 16, 2009. The election will take place on August 20. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani (AFGHANISTAN ELECTIONS POLITICS IMAGES OF THE DAY) 

A blind Afghan student reads Braille during a lesson at a blind school in Kabul September 4, 2012. The vocational blind school, which is the only blind school in Afghanistan, was established in 1977 and has more than 187 students including boys and girls. Picture taken September 4, 2012. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: SOCIETY EDUCATION) 

An Afghan teacher teaches chemistry in a Turkish-Afghan school in Herat December 12, 2009. EUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: SOCIETY EDUCATION) 

Afghan girls work at a first Internet cafe for women in Kabul March 8, 2012. Afghanistan opened its first female-only internet cafe on Thursday, hoping to give women a chance to connect to the world without verbal and sexual harassment and free from the unwanted gazes of their countrymen. REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: SOCIETY) 

Afghan students attend a commencement ceremony at Kabul University April 13,2008. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani (AFGHANISTAN) 

An Afghan girl reads from the board in a home-based school in Kabul December
2, 2001. The school, operating secretly for a year under the strict Taliban
regime, has now opened its doors for all children ready to pay a small
monthly fee. PP03070097 REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

DS/GB 

An Afghan woman works on a form of embroidery called Khamak at Kandahar Treasure facilities in Kandahar city, June 14, 2009. Kandahar Treasure, a non-profit project of the Afghans for Civil Society which started out in 2003, employs women artisans from the Kandahar area in order to develop more economic opportunities. REUTERS/Jorge Silva (AFGHANISTAN SOCIETY POLITICS CONFLICT)