Kabul , Afghanistan ( CNN ) -- In some countries , the written word brings more than just readers to those bold enough to publish . Local journalists who attach their names to scrutinizing articles in Afghanistan are often subject to threats of kidnapping , acid attacks and death -- especially if the writer is a woman . That 's the daily reality for Afghan journalist Farida Nekzad , who says she 's been threatened by extremist groups warning her against publishing articles that cast a critical lens on local customs and national politics . `` You have to fight everyday , '' said the former managing editor of the Pajhwok News Agency , the country 's largest local provider of independent news . `` You have to accept the risk , and that 's why we face such challenges . '' The once fledgling news agency began as a small project in 2003 , and later flourished into a nation-wide network of correspondents with eight bureaus and an average output of three dozen stories per day , according to its website . Nekzad began as a journalist there , also having worked as a radio reporter . Earning her stripes covering the local effects of the U.S.-led war and her country in transition , she took over as managing editor and began training a corps of budding young journalists . Many of them were women . `` Everyone needs information , particularly women need to know and have information for their awareness , '' she told CNN . `` I think one of the ways we can do something is by starting with this profession . '' But after years of receiving threatening e-mails and phone calls , the prospect of violence became reality when a bomb detonated on the driveway of her home . `` I was displaced from my home for nine to about 10 months , '' forced to leave because her neighbors complained . They said `` you have to leave your building , '' according to Nekzad . Leaving Pajhwok in 2009 in an effort to lower her profile , the longtime journalist says she sought to avoid the limelight that had brought extremists to her door . `` The threats and warnings scared me , '' said Nekzad , who at the time was pregnant with her daughter , Muska . But she had also laid the ground-work for what would become her next venture , working alongside her husband to set up a separate news agency called `` Wakht , '' meaning `` Time . '' Today , Nekzad is the agency 's director , overseeing a staff of more than two dozen journalists who cover Afghanistan 's forbidding terrain in an effort to root out stories in all of its 34 provinces . And again , many of her reporters are women . `` She typifies the double jeopardy under which women journalists in Afghanistan are forced to operate , '' said Bob Dietz , Committee to Protect Journalists Asia Program Coordinator . `` Reporting and editing and running a news operation is tough enough there , but doing it as a woman makes it much more of a challenge . '' Even after the ouster of the Taliban from Kabul in 2001 , social and cultural restrictions against women in Afghanistan have remained heavy-handed . Despite the adoption of a constitution that greatly expands women 's legal rights , most women are never taught to read . About 14 % of Afghan women are currently literate , according to a statement from the Ministry of Education . They `` are uneducated and away from education , '' said Nekzad . `` Women need for women to share their experiences , share their problems and share their challenges of how they suffer . '' But with Internet access restricted and its penetration especially low in rural areas , online news agencies -- like Wakht -- struggle to deliver information beyond the country 's few metropolitan areas . Still , there are signs afoot of a quietly developing women 's rights movement . Last week , a handful of women -- mostly Kabul residents -- marched in the capital streets , carrying placards in protest of male harassment . And yet with NATO in the process of a drawn-down , handing over the first seven designated areas to Afghan Security Forces , many fear the effects of a resurgent Taliban or a negotiated settlement that allows militants to come back . `` This is really a very critical question , '' said Nekzad . `` The biggest problem is that there is no guarantee ( for women 's safety ) . '' The veteran journalist said that while she supports negotiations that could lead to peace , she questioned `` who will guarantee that the Taliban ... will agree that women should be a part of the activity and a part of the society to work ? '' Although the troubles of Afghan women were there prior to the Taliban 's arrival in the mid-90s , the hard-line group has traditionally taken a tough stance against them . `` When the Taliban first entered Kabul , the religious police beat men and women in public for not having long enough beards or not wearing the burka properly , '' wrote Pakistani author Ahmed Rashid in his widely-acclaimed book `` Taliban . '' Still , the costs of the near decade-long conflict seems to appeal less and less to the war-weary public of Europe and the United States , whose electorates are still reeling from the aftermath of recession . Last month , nearly three-quarters of Americans polled said they support the United States pulling out some or all of its forces out of the country . How those factors will affect international resolve to promote local institutions and bring about lasting security in Afghanistan is still unclear .
Afghan journalist Farida Nekzad says she 's been threatened by extremist groups . A bomb once exploded outside her home . She is a director and cofounder of an independent news agency in Afghanistan . She trains journalists , and many of them are women .