Amid an impotent Western response to the Taliban’s increasing human rights violations against Afghan women, one Afghan woman is helping her compatriots regain the agency they lost during decades of conflict. In Last to Eat, Last to Learn, Pashtana Durrani writes with humor, heart, and a smattering of sarcasm about her fight to bring education to girls left behind by traditional schooling through her nongovernmental organization LEARN Afghanistan.

Last to Eat, Last to Learn is a vital read for those who continue the drumbeat against the Taliban’s gender apartheid, but its messages are equally vital for the Western leaders who blame their lack of progress during 20 years in Afghanistan on government corruption and Afghan cultural norms. Durrani’s unprecedented success has been a result of dogged determination and working within, not against, the culture she loves. In addition to educating hundreds of girls through LEARN, Durrani herself is a sign of cultural progress. At just 22 years old, Durrani was selected by local powerbrokers to become khan, or leader, of her large Barakzai Pashtun tribe over her male relatives after her father’s passing.