Madina Sharifi, Afghanistan’s national jiu-jitsu athlete in the under-63kg category, was defeated by technical knockout by Palestinian athlete Danya Obaid in her first appearance at the 2026 Nagoya Asian Games, ending her campaign. The 23-year-old Sharifi faced 32-year-old Obaid. Their match took place in the round of 32 of the Nagoya Asian Games. With Sharifi’s defeat, Afghanistan’s women athletes concluded their participation in the 20th Asian Games in Japan. Afghanistan had seven female athletes competing at the Games and finished with one silver medal. The silver is currently Afghanistan’s best result at this edition of the Games. Fariba Hashemi won the medal in road cycling, becoming the first Afghan woman athlete to finish on the podium at the Asian Games.

A number of human rights activists, Afghan migrants and members of the Hazara community in New England, United States, have called on the United Nations and the international community to recognize the “genocide of the Hazaras.” The online meeting was hosted by the Hazara community in New England and brought together human rights activists, university professors, cultural figures and Afghan migrants. It was held to mark the anniversary of the genocide of Hazaras in Afghanistan under Abdur Rahman Khan. Sima Samar, former chair of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, said Hazara advocacy must be grounded in truth, careful documentation, identification of perpetrators, and the determination of individual responsibility and the chain of command. She said responsibility should not be attributed to an entire ethnic group. She stressed that, alongside efforts to investigate genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes should also be rigorously documented and submitted to international bodies for legal action. Mohammad Amin Ahmadi, a researcher and university professor, said the historical record shows that during Abdur Rahman Khan’s rule, a campaign was carried out to suppress, kill and destroy parts of the Hazara community. The campaign also involved repression, forced displacement and the seizure of Hazara lands. He added that the people of Afghanistan, as a nation, need to understand the truth about the genocide of the Hazaras. Abbas Basir, Afghanistan’s former minister of higher education, said there is evidence of mass killings, land seizures and intent on Abdur Rahman Khan’s part to destroy the Hazaras. He said the issuance of a decree declaring Hazaras infidels and the mobilization of forces against them were also significant evidence from that period. Referring to targeted attacks on Hazaras in civilian locations—including schools, mosques, sports stadiums and other public places—as well as threats against them, Basir said these factors are relevant to assessing the risk of genocide in the current circumstances. Participants also called on the United Nations, the European Union and other governments to formally recognize the genocide of Hazaras in Afghanistan. They urged the establishment of an investigative commission to document crimes and submit evidence to the International Criminal Court. They also called for protective measures and humanitarian assistance, safe pathways for asylum, the deployment of international observers, and guarantees that aid is distributed equitably among Hazara communities.

Jalila Haider, a Hazara lawyer and human rights activist from Pakistan, has won the 2026 Right Livelihood Award, often known as the “Alternative Nobel Prize.” The Stockholm-based Right Livelihood Foundation announced the 2026 laureates today, Wednesday, September 30. The foundation said Haider has supported some of Pakistan’s most vulnerable communities in the face of state repression, patriarchal norms and ethnic violence. In 2018, she led a seven-day hunger strike to protest the targeted killings of Hazaras. According to the announcement, Haider’s action compelled the Pakistani army to negotiate directly with Hazara women, after which attacks on the community declined on a sustained basis. The foundation said Haider has pursued justice for thousands of people targeted or ignored by those in power—particularly gender and religious minorities, and refugees—by combining legal work, street activism and community empowerment. The announcement also said Haider’s law office has helped secure the release of more than 600 political activists and human rights defenders. The Right Livelihood Foundation said this year’s awards have been given to women and women-led organizations challenging some of the world’s most entrenched power structures, including authoritarian rule, patriarchal violence and the unchecked development of artificial intelligence. The awards are scheduled to be presented to the laureates in Stockholm, Sweden, on 1 September. The prize is worth two million Swedish kronor and is awarded annually to activists and advocates from around the world working in areas including human rights, health, the environment, education and peace.

UN Women has said that, following cuts to foreign aid to Afghanistan, women-led organizations and organizations defending women’s rights in the country have faced severe funding shortfalls, with 82 percent at risk of closure. In a newly released report, the organization said a survey of 74 women’s organizations conducted in April 2026 found that they had faced funding cuts since 2025. The report, titled “The Impact of Aid Cuts on Women-Led Organizations and Women’s Rights Organizations,” shows that reductions in foreign aid have restricted these organizations’ activities and increased the risk that some will close. According to the report, 61 organizations—82 percent of those surveyed—said they were at risk of closure. In the survey, organization representatives described how funding cuts had affected their work since January 2025. The report found that 72 percent of the organizations surveyed experienced budget cuts in 2025. In addition, 49 organizations—66 percent of respondents—said their financial situation in 2026 had become “worse” or “critical” compared with the previous year. Of the 74 organizations surveyed, UN Women found that one had closed permanently. Another 40 organizations—54 percent—said they could suspend their activities or close altogether in the next 12 months. UN Women said budget cuts had also affected women’s organizations’ and women’s rights organizations’ “ability and capacity to provide services” in Afghanistan. The report said 77 percent of respondents reported that their capacity to meet the needs of women and girls was “below the level required,” while 83 percent said the need for assistance among women and girls had “increased” compared with previous years. According to the report, 62 percent of the organizations surveyed are now reaching fewer women and girls than they did before January 2025. In addition, 54 percent said that, because of limited capacity, they had been forced to put women and girls on “waiting lists” or turn them away. This situation has emerged since US President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January 2025, when he cut all US foreign aid, particularly humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan.

The Embassy of Spain in the United Kingdom has once again reaffirmed its support for the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan. In a post published on its X account, the embassy said that, under the current circumstances, it is more important than ever to support their rights and advocate for them. “Now more than ever, we must fight for the rights of Afghan women and girls,” the embassy added. It stressed that, in a world full of challenges, Afghan women and girls must not be forgotten. “They should inspire us all to work towards building a better world,” the post said. For the past five years, women and girls have faced sweeping restrictions on their access to education and work, as well as their participation in social and public life. These restrictions have repeatedly been condemned by international organizations and a number of countries.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UN Women have announced a joint investment of $1.7 million to support women entrepreneurs in Afghanistan. In a statement, the organizations said the initiative, titled the Afghanistan Women’s Resilience Enterprise Fund (AWFRE), will support around 1,500 women entrepreneurs over the next year. The statement said the initiative is expected to indirectly benefit more than 14,000 people by strengthening businesses and increasing household incomes. UNDP said the fund will provide Sharia-compliant financing without requiring collateral, along with financial and digital literacy training, mentoring, business planning support, and help accessing markets. Under the initiative, more than 10,000 women in Afghanistan currently hold business licenses—a figure that has increased tenfold over the past five years. The two organizations are also seeking to raise an additional $10 million to expand the program. If the funding is secured, around 10,000 more women entrepreneurs will receive financing and business support. Since taking control of Afghanistan, the de facto authorities have barred women and girls from education. Most recently, they closed medical institutes to women and girls, even as the country’s health sector faces a shortage of personnel. These measures have left millions of girls unable to continue their education. Women have also been prohibited from going to gyms, restaurants, and public bathhouses; being examined by male doctors; traveling without a male guardian; and working for domestic and international nongovernmental organizations or even United Nations offices in Afghanistan.

A commemoration marking the September 25 anniversary of the genocide of Hazaras under Afghanistan’s former king, Abdur Rahman Khan, was held with the participation of several members of parliament and officials from Spain’s Catalonia region. The event was organized by Hazara community representatives and activists at the Albarda Cultural Center in Catalonia. Sara Javerita Guener, vice-chair of the Socialists and Allies for Progress parliamentary group, said the Socialist Party would pursue recognition of the Hazara genocide through its representatives in the Parliament of Catalonia, the European Parliament, and Spain’s Congress of Deputies. Representatives of the Hazara community from Spain and several other European countries held separate meetings with Raquel Sans Guerra, first vice-president of the Parliament of Catalonia, and Juli Fernández Olivares, a representative of the Republican Left of Catalonia group. They discussed the historical and current situation of Hazaras, ethnic and religious discrimination, the situation of women and girls, attacks on civilians, education, land seizures, and the forced displacement of Hazaras. The representatives called for the situation of Hazaras in Afghanistan to be considered within the context of a long history of violence, discrimination, and exclusion. They also urged recognition of the Hazara genocide and called on the international community to take steps to prevent attacks against Hazaras. The first vice-president of the Parliament of Catalonia expressed concern over the human rights situation and the treatment of Hazaras in Afghanistan. She said she would review and pursue the community’s demands within the parliament’s remit. She also spoke about efforts to raise the issue of Hazaras at the European level and to address the Hazara genocide there, adding that details of these measures would become clear as follow-up work progressed. Hazara activists mark September 25 each year as the anniversary of the genocide of Hazaras under Afghanistan’s former king, Abdur Rahman Khan.

A study on Afghan women’s and girls’ efforts and motivation to learn despite the absence of educational pathways has received the Academy of Management’s 2026 Carolyn B. Dexter Award for Best International Paper. The study was co-authored by several researchers, including Haseena Jalal. Titled “When All Hope Seems Lost: Sustaining Learning Motivation in the Absence of Educational Pathways,” the study examines how people maintain their motivation to learn when formal routes to education are unavailable. In a post on her X account, Jalal wrote that the paper was co-authored by David Navarat of the Technical University of Munich, Forouzan Danesh of the University of Toronto, and Jalal of the University of Pittsburgh. It was nominated in the Academy of Management’s Management Education and Development Division. Jalal, one of the study’s researchers, said receiving the award meant more to her than an academic honor. She emphasized that, at a time when girls and women in Afghanistan face restrictions on access to education, international recognition for research into their efforts and resilience carries particular significance. Jalal expressed hope that the paper would amplify the voices of Afghan women and girls and show that being denied an education does not extinguish their aspirations or their capacity to learn. She dedicated the recognition to women and girls in Afghanistan, especially those whose experiences and stories informed the research.