Nowruz is banned in Afghanistan, but families continue to celebrate
One woman living in Kabul describes how, despite food shortages and repression, her family is celebrating the Persian new year with what they have.
The Taliban may have banned the Nowruz holiday, but it cannot erase the Persian new year from people's minds.
"When I think of Nowruz, I can only think of the food," Shararah (a pseudonym to protect her identity) says with a broad smile.
The 23-year-old teacher is Zooming in from a modest apartment in Kabul, Afghanistan, reflecting on the holiday that marks the start of spring. Despite the late hour, Shararah is animated, her face growing increasingly brighter as she describes the once-bustling streets of Mandawi market in Kabul's old district, colorful stalls that she and her sister would navigate one by one. A place, she says, where "you
