Summary of Jenny Nordberg's The Underground Girls of Kabul

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 The twins were excited to show me that they are not actually brother and sister, but rather two ten-year-old identical girls. They wanted to know if I was married, since their mother is a married mother of four.

#2 When I first met Azita, she was a member of the new Afghan parliament. She had promised her rural voters that she would direct more foreign aid to their poor, far-flung corner of Afghanistan.

#3 Azita is one of the few women in Afghanistan with a voice, but she is still a provocation to many because her life is different from that of most women in Afghanistan and a threat to those who subjugate them.

#4 Azita’s family was very large. She had four daughters, but no sons. When you have no sons, it is a big missing for you and everyone feels sad for you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: May 5, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822503311

IRB Media

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Insights on Jenny Nordberg's The Underground Girls of Kabul

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The twins were excited to show me that they are not actually brother and sister, but rather two ten-year-old identical girls. They wanted to know if I was married, since their mother is a married mother of four.

#2

When I first met Azita, she was a member of the new Afghan parliament. She had promised her rural voters that she would direct more foreign aid to their poor, far-flung corner of Afghanistan.

#3

Azita is one of the few women in Afghanistan with a voice, but she is still a provocation to many because her life is different from that of most women in Afghanistan and a threat to those who subjugate them.

#4

Azita’s family was very large. She had four daughters, but no sons. When you have no sons, it is a big missing for you and everyone feels sad for you.

#5

In Afghanistan, having at least one son is mandatory for good standing and reputation. If a woman cannot bear a son, she is seen as fundamentally flawed. The literacy rate is low, and many unfounded truths swirl around without being challenged.

#6

The family’s youngest daughter took on the role of a son, and since then, the family has become much more free. They can leave the house, go to the playground, and even wander to the next block if Mehran is along as an escort.

#7

I had met with Azita, the girl who had dressed as a boy, and her family. They said that more Afghan families turned their daughters into sons, as a way of both conceding to and defying an impossibly rigid society.

#8

The Afghan government and experts in both government and aid organizations said that Afghans did not dress their daughters as sons to counter their segregated society. But persistent inquiries among Afghans revealed a different, if muddled, view.

#9

Carol, who is British, has lived in Afghanistan for almost 20 years. She has worked for nongovernmental organizations and as a consultant to government ministries. She enjoys the simplicity of her life in Peshawar, a dangerous Pakistani city formerly under British