Mursal Rahim's journey from Afghanistan to the U.S.—and eventually to Cornell—was recently chronicled in The Last Free Women: A Daring Escape from Afghanistan and Coming of Age in America.

As U.S. forces withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021, the New York Times undertook the task of bringing 124 people associated with the company out of Kabul to start new lives in America. One of them, Cornell alum Mursal Rahim, joins TODAY to detail fleeing the Taliban and share an update five years after leaving their home behind.

In this New York Times op-ed, Mursal Rahim (MPA ’25) writes about fleeing Afghanistan and attending Cornell—an educational opportunity unavailable to women under Taliban rule. 

From Cameroon to Ukraine, threatened scholars are finding ways to keep teaching and researching through Cornell‑supported virtual fellowships anchored closer to home.

A team of geophysicists from Cornell, Cameroon, and South Africa is using machine learning tools to unearth new information from earthquake data collected by Cornell 15 years ago—providing a lifeline for a scholar through virtual collaboration.

“Although Afghanistan is situated in a high seismic zone, its vulnerability to earthquakes is affected by other factors,” Noor Ahmad Akhundzadah, a visiting scholar with the South Asia Program.

Khadija Monis ’25 spoke at a graduation celebration dinner that brought together our Afghan students and people on campus who supported the women since they arrived in December 2021.

Diana Ayubi '25 shares her experience as she graduates from Cornell University. 

Our “scholars under threat” initiative offered extensive support to help nine women get acclimated and to succeed at Cornell after escaping the Taliban.

Even before she took office in 2019, Zarifa Ghafari – the youngest and one of the only female mayors to serve in Afghanistan – became a target of the Taliban. She survived multiple assassination attempts, and in 2020, her father was fatally shot outside his home.