At the championship of the Afghan women's soccer league, players sprint across the field. Hoodie-style hijabs cover their hair. The scene was once unthinkable. But now the players face new obstacles.
Roya Rahmani is Afghanistan's first woman ambassador to the U.S. "What makes me hopeful about women's rights in Afghanistan is that women themselves, they have their own voice," she tells NPR.
Afghan women and young people say the peace negotiations exclude their wants and needs. "The U.S. is negotiating with a group that's notorious for denying women basic human rights," says one activist.
Scaling Afghanistan's tallest mountain will be difficult enough. But Afghan female climbers and their American guides also face civil war, red tape and cultural taboos.
Afghanistan is a mountainous land where mountain climbing is rare among men and virtually nonexistent among women. An American is now preparing young Afghan women to scale the country's highest peak.
