Latifa

Latifa is the pseudonym of a young woman growing up in Kabul, Afghanistan during the almost continuous warfare of the Sovie invasion, the battles of the mujahideen, and the Taliban. "My Forbidden Face" focuses on the period of the Taliban. Latifa was the daughter of an importer and a doctor. One sister was a journalist and the other was a flight attendant. With the coming of the Taliban, her mother and sisters had to give up their careers, and Latifa had to abandon her schooling and her ambitions to become a journalist. She and other women eventually started secret schools for younger children. She was given the opportunity to go to France to speak out against the Taliban policies, etc. She used a pseudonym to protect family members still in Afghanistan.