Afghan girls perform kung fu in a park in Herat Province, western Afghanistan. Their coach, Shrif Rezai, 42, trained in Iran when he was a refugee before returning to Afghanistan in 2011 to teach Chinese martial arts to teenagers. In Afghanistan’s conservative society, where many people – especially in the countryside – believe women should not leave home without a male relative, girls practising sports in the open air is extremely risky. Rahmat Alizadah – who photographed these girls doing just that – works as the chief photographer for Xinhua News Agency and specializes in ‘showing beauty from war-torn countries’.