Skip to main content

Zahra Joy

Published July 27, 2026

Zahra Joy – The Vanishing Girl of Kabul

Human rights journalist Zahra Joy shares her powerful story of survival growing up in Afghanistan under Taliban rule in the nineties, disguising herself as a boy to go to school.

After the US-led invasion, her world flourished. But when the Taliban regained power in 2021, women were once again erased from public life. Zahra was airlifted from Kabul to London where she lives in exile running Rukhshana Media – an agency dedicated to amplifying stories of Afghan women.

Activist Malala Yousafzai describes Zahra’s new book, The Vanishing Girl of Kabul, as a memoir that doubles as a warning. Co-written with journalist Amie Ferris-Rotman, it’s a clarion call to a world too willing to look away from gender-based oppression.