Help bring the voices and experiences of Afghan women to an international audience.

My name is Shikiba Babori. I was born in Kabul and now live in Germany. I am a journalist, ethnologist and author, and for more than twenty years I have been reporting on and researching Afghanistan, with a particular focus on the lives, rights and experiences of Afghan women.

In 2022, my book Die Afghaninnen – Spielball der Politik was published in Germany by Campus Verlag.

The book tells the story of Afghan women across generations. It combines journalistic research and ethnographic analysis with the personal experiences and voices of women themselves. It examines how women have repeatedly become caught between political interests, wars, foreign interventions, social structures and struggles for power – from the attempts at modernisation in the early twentieth century to the return of the Taliban.

Now the book is reaching a much wider audience.

An English edition, Afghan Women: Pawns in Political Power Struggles, will be published by Routledge (Taylor & Francis) at the end of 2026.

The professional English translation has already been completed. I arranged and financed it independently, and I am now seeking support towards these costs, with an overall fundraising goal of €10,000.

Why an English edition matters

Since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, Afghan women and girls have been progressively excluded from education, employment and much of public life.

At the same time, discussions about Afghanistan are often conducted without the perspectives of Afghan women themselves.

I want this book to contribute to changing that.

Publishing it in English will make the research, history and – above all – the experiences and perspectives of Afghan women accessible to a much larger international audience: readers, students, universities, researchers, journalists, policymakers and organisations working on Afghanistan and women’s rights.

The English edition is no longer an idea or a proposal. The translation is complete, the manuscript has been accepted, and the book is on its way to publication.

What remains is the considerable cost of the professional translation.

90 women – 90 contributions

My original idea was simple:

What if 90 women helped make these voices heard internationally?

If 90 people contributed around €90 each, a substantial part of the translation costs would already be covered.

But you certainly do not have to give €90.

€10, €20, €50 – every contribution helps.

And men are, of course, equally welcome to support the campaign. “90 Women” is the idea behind the campaign, not a restriction on who can take part.

If you cannot contribute financially, sharing this campaign with others is another important form of support.

What your contribution supports

The funds raised through this campaign will go towards the costs of the professional English translation of Afghan Women: Pawns in Political Power Struggles.

By supporting the English edition, you are helping a book centred on Afghan women's experiences and perspectives reach readers far beyond the German-speaking world.

For me, this is also about something larger: ensuring that Afghan women are not spoken about only as victims of political events, but that their experiences, knowledge, resistance and voices remain part of the international conversation.

The translation is complete. The book is coming. Help Afghan women’s voices reach an international audience.

Thank you for reading, supporting and sharing this project.

Shikiba Babori

Journalist | Ethnologist | Author