Welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service.
This is the fifth floor at the heart of global storytelling with BBC journalists from all around the world.
For many Afghans, poetry is very much a part of everyday life,
whether that be in the Dadi or Pashto language.
It weaves in and out of conversation effortlessly and is an important way of communicating and connecting with one another.
The Taliban government issued a new law back in August on regulating poetry,
which prohibits writing romantic poetry or poetry between men and women.
The law states that poetry must be free of imaginary love,
illicit desires, and inappropriate emotions.
In this episode of the fifth floor,
I want to learn a bit more about Afghanistan's relationship with love poetry and to hear about one of the most venerated figures in Afghan culture,
Rabia Balchi, known to be the first female poet to write in Persian.
So I'm delighted to say that I have three very special guests in the studio today with me,
Oli Afarzon and Shaqibah Habib, both from BBC Afghan Service.
And we welcome back to the show, poet, writer,
broadcaster and former BBC Language Service journalist, Abdullah Shaddan.
Everyone, welcome to the fifth floor.
It's great to see you here.
Thank you.
Now, before we get started in preparation for this conversation,