Bear Hugs Book Chronicles Alum’s Escape from the Taliban, and Her Life in the U.S. Two journalists penned The Last Free Women, which follows Mursal Rahim, MPA ’25, and three others as they build new futures “Bear Hugs” celebrates heartwarming stories of Cornellians on the Hill and around the world. Have an idea? Email us at cornellians@cornell.edu! Editor’s note: Our feature profiling some of the Afghan women who graduated in May 2025 can be found here. By Melissa Newcomb Growing up in Afghanistan, Mursal Rahim, MPA ’25, saw the blue UNICEF logo everywhere—from her notebooks and pencils to the tent where she attended class with other girls. More than two decades later, she was thrilled to see a variant of that logo somewhere else: beside her own photograph on a badge at the United Nations. Rahim was a grad student on the Hill when she landed a summer internship with the U.N. in NYC, fulfilling a goal she had carried with her since arriving in the U.S. after fleeing her home country. With the Afghan flag at the U.N. “I became very emotional because I saw ‘Mursal from Afghanistan,’” Rahim says, recalling how it felt to view her own image on an official U.N. credential. “I thought, ‘Look how far she has come.’” Rahim’s determination to get an education started early. At five, her older sister helped her pretend she was seven so she could begin school—until her baby teeth gave her away. Coming of age in an era when women had unprecedented educational freedom due to the American occupation of her country, she earned a bachelor’s degree in law from Salam University in Kunduz and was preparing for a career advocating for women’s rights. Rahim’s determination to get an education started early. At five, her older sister helped her pretend she was seven so she could begin school—until her baby teeth gave her away. Then, in August 2021, that promising future abruptly vanished. As the U.S. pulled out of Afghanistan and the Taliban retook control, Rahim fled with her family; her older brother had worked as a reporter for the New York Times, which helped evacuate more than 100 of its local employees and their relatives. Since returning to power, the Taliban has barred girls from education beyond the sixth grade and severely limited women’s ability to work and participate in public life. The U.N. has called Afghanistan under Taliban rule the world’s most repressive country for women and girls. 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. The book was written by Rebecca Blumenstein, a former Times editor who helped coordinate the employees’ evacuation and resettlement, and Diana Kapp, a journalist who has reported from Afghanistan. It follows Rahim and three other young Afghan women from the same evacuation group over the course of five years, as they build new lives in the U.S. “I was born in war, I was raised in war, and now I leave my country in war,” the authors quote Rahim as saying shortly after coming to the U.S. “Our body is safe, but our soul is not. Our soul is still in our country.” Rahim (second from right) on NBC’s “Today” show with host Savannah Guthrie (far left). Rahim arrived in Houston speaking little English and spent her first months learning the language. A year later, she and her sister moved to Pittsburg to study English at Chatham University. In a chapter titled “Cornell Visions,” Rahim visits the Hill and tours the Brooks School’s master of public administration program. Though she was unfamiliar with the Big Red before the visit, she left with a new goal. I was born in war, I was raised in war, and now I leave my country in war. Our body is safe, but our soul is not. Our soul is still in our country. “Mursal had never heard of the Ivy League,” the authors write, “but now she intended to get herself there.” Rahim matriculated in fall 2023, concentrating her graduate studies on human rights and social justice. She was supported by Global Cornell’s Scholars Under Threat initiative, which helps international students whose education or careers have been disrupted by peril in their home countries. At a rally on campus to raise awareness about the plight of Afghan women. “I didn’t only study at Cornell; I grew up there, as a human and as a woman,” Rahim says. “I became someone who would think broader, who would think beyond the bubble that I had before. To not be scared to try new stuff, to be braver, to speak out in class about my ideas, to not be ashamed of who I am and what my background is.” I became someone who would think broader, who would think beyond the bubble that I had before. To not be scared to try new stuff, to be braver. Rahim earned her MPA in May 2025, less than four years after leaving Afghanistan. She recently reflected on that moment in a New York Times op-ed headlined “What America Owes to Afghan Women,” in which she describes the complicated memory of celebrating her achievement while thinking of those she’d left behind. With her parents at Commencement. “As I teetered across the stage in high heels, the sad, hopeless faces of my girlfriends who never made it out of Afghanistan flashed through my mind,” she writes. “This is the whiplash I live with now—highs of freedom and newfound opportunity, punctured by lows of intense guilt.” After graduation, Rahim moved to Virginia to be closer to her family and work as a case manager for Catholic Charities, helping immigrants and refugees. With the office closing, she’s searching for her next position in policy or legal work. This is the whiplash I live with now—highs of freedom and newfound opportunity, punctured by lows of intense guilt. As she considers what comes next, she’s fielding media attention from her appearance in The Last Free Women—a story Rahim says she initially wasn’t sure she wanted to share. “I realized I want people reading this,” Rahim says. “My mission is to show people that we are all the same; we have the same ambitions. As refugees, as migrants, as women, we were limited, because we didn’t have the same resources back in Afghanistan. We could do great when we came to a country that gave us resources, gave us a chance, and gave us wings.” (All images provided.) Published September 28, 2026 Leave a Comment Cancel replyOnce your comment is approved, your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *Comment * Name * Class Year Email * Save my name, email, and class year in this browser for the next time I comment. Δ Other stories You may like Bear Hugs Sewn for a Hum Ec Class in the ’50s, Alum’s Dress Comes Home Ask the Expert Do Women in the U.S. Still Earn Less than Men? 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