 Kunduz, Afghanistan. In 2017, this province and its capital are an uncertain frontline of war. Taliban fighters who hold parts of rural Afghanistan aim to undermine the government by taking over a major city for the first time. Kunduz is a rich but rugged farming province in Afghanistan's northeast. For years it has been a rare northern stronghold of the Taliban, but the provincial capital Kunduz city also has an active civil society, including a local women's rights movement. In the shadow of the Taliban, Sadiqa Sharzai runs a women's radio station. Radio Roshani or Enlightenment Radio broadcasts a campaign for human and women's rights and democracy. In October 2015, the Taliban briefly captured the city, overwhelming government troops. Taliban fighters quickly began hunting the city's women activists. They looted the offices of women's organizations, including Radio Roshani, stealing equipment and burning files. Sharzai tells her story on condition that her face not be shown to avoid helping the Taliban identify her. They repeatedly have attacked and tried to kill her. I have been in contact with the city for a long time. I have been in contact with the people of the city for a long time. Afghan troops with U.S. support forced out the fighters, but Taliban attacks continue. Kunduz residents say they fear the city could fall again anytime. Sharzai and her husband worked for months to put Radio Roshani back on the air. In a now more fearful city, she says, much of her staff has fled, and the work is more difficult. Since 2008, Radio Roshani has broadcast discussion programs, call-in shows, interviews with local women, and readings from the Quran, all to contest violent interpretations of Islam and restrictions on women in schools, workplaces and public life. The radio urges women to assert their rights to education and a voice in their communities. Nationwide, Afghanistan has a handful of women's radio stations. They're the most public voice of the women's movement, and they're vital in part as the only means to reach isolated women, notably in rural areas. Our families are very happy, and we have a lot of women in our community, and we have a lot of women's rights, and I have a lot of friends, and I know that I can make them light up their minds. USIP supports radio programs like Stedika's because they engage Afghan citizens to improve governance and to reduce corruption. This is important for Afghanistan democracy, but it's also a low-cost way of countering its messages from groups like ISIS. When Afghan citizens engage the government, it improves Afghan stability and also protects US interests.