Afghanistan has a strikingly young population, with more than 60% of its 35 million people under the age of 25, and half under the age of 15. Its Generation Z has grown up in a 17-year window shadowed by warfare, but now faces an uncertain future and the possibility of stark change. Peace talks between the United States and Taliban are ramping up and for villagers in rural Afghanistan, where traditional ways have always counted for more than central government law, life may not change much. But for the young of Kabul and other cities, there is much to lose, in particular the freedoms restored after the Taliban were ousted – from playing music, to modelling and adopting trendy haircuts – which they’ve grown up with.