Changing times for Afghan women

Ghazalan Koofi, 26, waits for a ride to work as her brother-in-law Shafiq Azizi holds her baby, Ahmad, 11 months. Despite growing up under Taliban rule, Koofi was able to graduate from high school, and is now studying literature in college. But with U.S. combat troops leaving Afghanistan next year, Koofi and other Afghan women worry that their freedoms will begin to erode. “We are entering a very dangerous period for women,” Koofi says. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Feb. 3, 2014 2 PM PT

The arc of Afghanistan’s recent history can be traced through two women and their families in Kabul.

Kahkashan Koofi, left, looks at pictures on her sister Oranous’ phone as they take a taxi with their mother, Shahgol Shah, 50, to the market in downtown Kabul. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Ghazalan Koofi sits with her son, Ahmad, at the day-care center at the Ministry of Economics where she works. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Ghazalan Koofi was the only woman hired out of 150 applicants to work on a Ministry of Economics team. Her computer and English skills and job experience helped her land the position. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Ghazalan Koofi, left, and her sister Oranous prepare lunch for the family in Ghazalan’s house in Kabul. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Oranous Koofi, 16, prepares to take a final exam at her high school in Kabul. She says she hopes to go on to college and become a lawyer so that she can help women in need. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Shukriya Matin carries her 3-year-old daughter, Sitayesh. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Shukriya Matin, left, directs a private hospital program in Kabul that provides maternal care to village women. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Hosnia Nayeem, 26, left, sister-in-law of Shukriya Matin, visits the Afghan home of Matin’s parents. During the rule of the Taliban, Matin and her family left for Pakistan, where they wove carpets. “Some people are saying the Taliban might come back, and we’d all have to flee to Pakistan again,” Matin says. “I don’t want that life for my daughter.” (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)