After the Taliban takeover, Afghans in Canada call on Ottawa not to let their country, families be forgotten

Thousands of delicate purple blooms sit bathed in sunlight against a background of towering jagged slopes in the Afghan province of Herat, their distinct fragrance gently sweetening the air as they await their fate.

Inside, each bloom contains just three fragile red threads, carefully hand-plucked to produce the world’s most expensive spice: saffron.

But this year, as harvest season approaches, the fate of the flowers, picked almost exclusively by women farmers, is in the hands of the Taliban, who will decide if the women will be allowed to gather the blooms, if they’ll be picked at all or left to rot.