In recent years, Afghanistan has become one of the most dangerous places in the world for women and girls. Since the extremist group the Taliban returned to power in 2021, women have been widely excluded from society. Studying and working have been banned, their movement and ability to speak in public are restricted, and the threat of violence is constant. Yet Afghan women continue to resist within their homes and communities. At the same time, they hold on to hope.
Director Elina Hirvonen. Photo: Otto Virtanen.
Director Shakiba Adil.
Scheduled for release in 2026, the Finnish documentary film The Secret Reading Club of Kabul brings their voices into view for the world. The film’s campaign is carried out in cooperation with Plan International and CMI – Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation. In 2025, Saastamoinen Foundation awarded a grant for an impact campaign aimed at committing the international community to long-term work to defend the human rights of Afghan women, guided by the women’s own wishes and needs.
A secret reading club in the shadow of the Taliban
The film follows three young Afghan women who gather in a secret reading club to read The Diary of Anne Frank. In the work dealing with the persecution of Jews during the Second World War, they see reflections of their own lives.
“They felt Anne Frank’s story was their own. A regime that denies people’s humanity is their everyday reality,” explained one of the film’s directors, author and journalist Elina Hirvonen, to STT in autumn 2025.
Hirvonen’s co-director is Afghan-Finnish documentarist and journalist Shakiba Adil, who grew up in Afghanistan during the Taliban’s first regime. She admires the young women’s courage.
“They do not stay silent. They find their ways. Even though the risk is enormous, they organise secret schools and support networks,” Adil says.
The film has been created in a unique way. Travelling to Afghanistan for filming is impossible without cooperation from the Taliban, so the young women have filmed and written their own video diaries for the documentary since 2023. Some of them have since managed to leave the country, and to ensure their safety, parts of the documentary material will be blurred. In addition to the video diary entries, the film includes archival material, including footage of violence against women from the Taliban’s first period in power between 1996 and 2001.
Campaign launch at the UN
The impact campaign was launched on 28 October 2025 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, as part of the anniversary week of UN Security Council Resolution 1325. Adopted on 31 October 2000, the resolution on Women, Peace and Security (1325) emphasises the role and agency of women at the heart of peace and security. The resolution has, among other things, promoted women’s equal participation in peacebuilding and drawn attention to women’s rights in all phases of conflict.
The widely praised event The Secret Reading Club of Kabul: High-Level Dialogue Amplifying Voices of Afghan Women brought together representatives from governments, international organisations and civil society. The event was organised by CMI, the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Finland’s Permanent Mission to the UN. The opening address was given by Finland’s UN Ambassador Elina Kalkku, with framing remarks by Kirsi Madi, Deputy Executive Director of UN Women, and Khaled Khiari, UN Assistant Secretary-General (DPPA). The panel, moderated by CMI’s Elisa Tarnaala, featured the film’s directors Hirvonen and Adil, as well as Nahid Shahalimi, founder of the Afghan human rights organisation We The Women.
The next high-level event of the impact campaign will take place on 27 November 2025 in Berlin, as part of a week of conferences focused on Afghanistan and timed to coincide with the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign.
In 2026, once the film is completed, the campaign will continue across Europe and the United States with forums aimed at policymakers, complemented by discussion screenings organised by Plan International and new partnerships with international actors.
From the 1325 Anniversary Event: “The Secret Reading Club of Kabul: High-Level Dialogue Amplifying Voices of Afghan Women”. From the left: Johanna Poutanen, CMI, moderator Elisa Tarnaala, CMI, director Shakiba Adil. Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown.
Visibility for the struggle of Afghan women
Since the Taliban came to power, the rights of Afghan women have been systematically eroded. Girls have been banned from attending school beyond primary level, protesters have been arrested and beaten, and women’s movement and public life are restricted to the extreme. The UN describes the situation as “the most serious suppression of women’s rights in the world”. It has been characterised as gender apartheid.
At the same time, the Taliban are attempting to portray Afghanistan as a safe tourist destination. The directors of the documentary film stress that the international community must not normalise forms of cooperation that disregard women’s human rights.
Hirvonen and Adil hope that the documentary will attract international attention and support, as well as change people’s attitudes. According to Hirvonen, Afghan women are not waiting for someone from outside to rescue them; rather, they need support for their struggle.
“Afghan women are no different,” Hirvonen says. “They have the same rights, feelings and dreams as everyone else. They deserve to be seen and heard.”
