Hiding Afghan girls in plain sight

In Afghan families without sons, girls are dressed as boys to preserve the family's honor

Afghanistan mom
(Image credit: (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images))

"OUR BROTHER IS really a girl." One of the eager-looking twins nods to reaffirm her words. Then she turns to her sister. Yes, it is true.

They are two 10-year-old identical girls, each with black hair, squirrel eyes, and a few small freckles. Moments ago, we danced to my iPod as we waited for their mother to finish a phone conversation in the other room. Our sing-alongs sounded pretty good bouncing off the ice-cold cement walls of the apartment in the Soviet-built maze that is home to a chunk of Kabul's small middle class.

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