Afghanistan: Shaiqa’s story
From Our Own Correspondent
BBC
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 23 May 2026
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Kate Adie introduces stories on the fate of a sick Afghan girl, a surprising return to Sudan, Armenia's choice between Russia and the West, Germany's culture of remembrance, and a first-time visit to an Irish wake.
In Afghanistan's Hindu Kush, where drought and hunger are rife, Yogita Limaye meets a father who made the unenviable decision to sell his young daughter into marriage to fund her medical treatment. Child marriage is not uncommon in rural communities, and the recent codification of laws under the Taliban government has made it more permissible.
Sudan has entered its fourth year of a brutal civil war, though government forces have reclaimed the capital Khartoum over the past year, driving out the paramilitary Rapid Support forces. Mohanad Hashim grew up Khartoum, and recently returned for the first time since the government took back control.
Armenia is holding key elections next month, which will serve as a major test of the country's political trajectory - to strengthen old ties with Russia, or to accelerate plans to join the EU. Rayhan Demytrie has been in the capital, Yerevan.
Germany’s culture of remembrance has long been seen as a model for how others can reckon with dark episodes of their past. But this has come under some scrutiny after the culture minister announced plans to broaden exactly what the country chooses to remember. Chelsea Coates reports from Berlin.
And finally, Vincent Dowd recently returned to southwest Ireland - somewhere he knows well after many years spent holidaying in the region. But this visit was more tentative than usual, as he was to attend his first traditional Irish wake.
Series Producer: Serena Tarling Production Coordinators: Katie Morrison & Sophie Hill Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello. Today we're in Khartoum, Sudan, which is inching back to life after government troops forced out rebel forces last year. |
| 0:15.0 | In Armenia's capital, locals snap selfies with a visiting Emmanuel Macron before his full-throated rendition of a French |
| 0:23.1 | standard. We're in Berlin, where we hear how Germans are debating how to remember the country's |
| 0:29.1 | colonial past, and in Ireland, our correspondent attends a traditional wake amid the changing seasons |
| 0:36.5 | in West Cork. |
| 0:38.2 | But first to Afghanistan, which is suffering a severe hunger crisis triggered by drought |
| 0:44.1 | and exacerbated by massive international aid cuts. |
| 0:48.6 | Three quarters of Afghans are now struggling to find food, jobs and access to health care. |
| 0:55.4 | The Taliban's own policies, particularly its severe restrictions on the lives of women, |
| 1:01.1 | has been one of the reasons cited by aid agencies for withdrawing support from the country. |
| 1:07.7 | Taliban leaders have dismissed this as the politicization of humanitarian assistance. |
| 1:13.5 | The BBC's Yoghita Le Maia met one family in Gore province, one of the worst affected areas. |
| 1:20.6 | Five-year-old Shaika has a striking face with brown hair and big black eyes. |
| 1:26.6 | She stares at us suspiciously, clinging on to her father, |
| 1:29.9 | 34-year-old Said Ahmed, her small arms wrapped around his neck. |
| 1:34.6 | She thinks all strangers might be doctors, that's why she's scared, |
| 1:37.9 | he tells us, as he holds her close, comforts her, and kisses the top of her head. |
| 1:43.3 | A month ago, Shaika spent two weeks in hospital |
| 1:45.9 | after she had surgery for appendicitis. |
| 1:49.2 | Saeed and Shaika live in Ghur province |
| 1:51.1 | in the Hindukush mountains in central Afghanistan. |
| 1:54.2 | But amid a severe hunger and jobs crisis, |
... |
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