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Nargis Taraki was the fifth born to proud parents of all girls. In Afghanistan this is not always seen as optimal. Boys are usually more valued in this society. After her birth, Nargis’s mother was confronted by a relative giving her two options to “improve” her family. This relative offered her husband another wife, which was not uncommon within Afghan culture, to increase the opportunity of having a baby boy. Nargis’s mother immediately refused. Then this relative offered to swap newborn Nargis with another family’s newborn baby boy in their village. Swapping babies isn’t common in Afghan culture though and it is still unknown how these relatives came up with this plan. This idea was also quickly dismissed. Nargis’s father was also approached by elders in the community, but he was determined to prove that his daughters were capable of anything that a son was capable of. Being surrounded by traditional, military friends and acquaintances, he struggled during that