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Afghan-American actress Annet Mahendru is best known for her role in the FX period drama series The Americans. Born in Afghanistan, she moved to USA as a young woman and studied improv at The Groundlings. She began acting by taking up small roles in TV shows. Since her debut, she has acted in many films and TV shows.
Humayun was the second emperor of the Mughal Empire, which ruled over South Asia for nearly two centuries. At the time of his demise, the empire spanned nearly one million square kilometers. The expansion of the empire under Humayun’s reign helped his son Akbar establish a substantial legacy of his own.
Mohammed Zahir Shah was the last king of Afghanistan, in power from 1933 until he was deposed in 1973. During his reign, he focused on modernizing the economy, improving Afghanistan’s relations with other countries, and creating a new constitution. Following his deposition, he remained in exile for many years before returning to Afghanistan.
Kader Khan was an Indian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and film director. After starting his career as a professor of civil engineering, Kader Khan went on to become a prolific screenwriter for Hindi movies and ended up writing dialogues for 200 movies as well. In 2019, he was honored posthumously with the Padma Shri.
Afghan feminist politician and award-winning journalist Shukria Barakzai has previously been the Afghan ambassador to Norway. She has been under death threats from the Taliban for her views. She whispered voice notes from Kabul to the UK during the 2021 Taliban takeover and had a narrow escape from Afghanistan.
Homeira Qaderi is an Afghan activist, writer, and educator. An advocate for women's rights, Qaderi was honored with the Malalai Medal for bravery at a young age. She found ways to educate herself despite Taliban's draconian edicts against women and received a Ph.D. from Jawaharlal Nehru University. She then fought to improve the situation of orphans and widows in Afghanistan.
British-Afghan social-activist and political-commentator Shabnam Nasimi is the founder and Executive Director of Conservative Friends of Afghanistan, a forum that aims in developing strong relationship between Afghanistan and the UK. She has made appearances on Channel 4 and Channel 5 News, BBC News and ITV News as a political commentator; and has written for Prospect and The Times among others.
Afghan woman Nadia Ghulam spent ten-years of her life posing as a boy, adopting identity of her dead brother, so that she can work to support her family while avoiding Taliban's strictures on women. She recollected her experiences in the 2010 book El secret del meu turbant that she co-authored with Agnès Rotger. It won Prudenci Bertrana Prize for fiction.
The only known international model from Afghanistan, Zohre Esmaeli was 13 when she fled Afghanistan and its Taliban regime to move to Germany with her family. She has been featured in magazines such as Elle and Cosmopolitan and is associated with charitable initiatives such as Save Society.
