At just 18 years old, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Lamar Zala Gran founded Empowering Afghan Women, a nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching STEM skills, English, coding, and graphic design to girls otherwise denied access to school. In Afghanistan, she said, girls miss school because of war, poverty, and early marriage. Others can’t get to school because of distance or financial barriers.

That was even before the Taliban retook power. After it did, Lamar was forced to rethink everything. Everything, indeed, had become more difficult and more dangerous.

“My dreams,” she said, “got shattered … I had to burn all my documents … I couldn’t use my identity.”

But hiding did not mean stopping. From a safehouse, she kept her organization alive, moving classes online and mentoring students who risked punishment simply for wanting to learn. From exile, Lamar amplified her work through international media, appearing under pseudonyms in interviews with the BBC, Al Jazeera, and LA Times, and in columns for Germany’s Tagesspiegel, sharing her experiences and advocating for Afghan women.

When Lamar tried to leave Afghanistan in 2022 to continue her own education, she was denied boarding her flight due to the requirement of a male chaperone. And so she set out alone, under the cover of night, reached the Pakistan border, secured tickets, and flew to Qatar. After a year there, she was accepted to study political science at Berea College in Kentucky.

What would that mean, she wondered, for the future of Empowering Afghan Women? She would be multiple continents and an ocean away — many time zones away, too, and culturally disconnected.

But at Berea, Lamar found Students For Liberty. SFL provided her with the funding and resources to continue her mission and a network of student leaders who motivated and inspired her. Above all, they reinforced her belief in empowering individual people rather than governments.

“Since I joined Students For Liberty, I have been able to keep my work alive, fighting against the Taliban and for women’s rights, even from far away,” she said. “Because SFL’s values are my values, too.”

Even though she’s so far from Afghanistan, Lamar’s organization is thriving. Empowering Afghan Women recently awarded its 5,000th certificate of completion. That’s 5,000 Afghan women and girls who now have a fighting chance to enter the workforce and earn salaries of their own.

“We have students who do not have laptops, and in some cases, up to eight students share a single device,” she explained, “but every effort counts. Every girl who learns is a victory.”

And from the U.S., Lamar has extended the reach of her voice. She spoke in front of the United Nations during International Youth Day and told delegates, “I’m a young Afghan woman with a deep passion for justice, equality, and peace … This day is not just a celebration … it’s a solemn reminder of the responsibility we bear as the architects of our future.”

Her vision for the future is simple but profound. Subversive and dangerous, too, but also noble and classically liberal: to undermine the Taliban, and authoritarian governments around the world, one young woman at a time.