Women Under Taliban Rule: "Why Do You Walk Around Without a Mahram?"

Why are you walking around without a mahram? A Taliban security man asked a young Afghan woman when he noticed that she was alone.

The young Afghan woman was sitting alone in the back seat of a yellow taxi in Kabul, the capital, as the car approached a checkpoint flying the white Taliban flag, like other checkpoints in the city.

What is allowed now in Kabul and what is not allowed?

The Taliban, wearing a turban and a gun slung over his shoulder, demanded that she call her husband, and when she explained that she did not have a mobile phone, another taxi driver ordered her to take her home to fetch her husband and bring them back. Once this was done everything was resolved.

What do we know about Afghanistan?

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What do we know about the Taliban?

Who benefits and who is harmed from the Taliban's control of Afghanistan?

Kabul is still a city plagued by heavy traffic, with wooden carts creaking under loads of green Afghani grapes and deep purple plums, while street children in tattered jackets squabble.

On the surface, the city looks very much the same, but it's not.

Kabul has become a capital ruled by Taliban statements, while some elements of the movement control the streets.

On the first day after the return of the last American soldier to his country, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, in an impromptu press conference, asked the fighters who surrounded him with their full military equipment to "be careful in how they deal with the people, this nation has suffered a lot, be kind ".

And some things need not be said. Once the Taliban, with surprising speed, overran Kabul last month, Afghans knew what to do under the movement's rule. Men stopped shaving to allow their beards to grow, and women switched from bright scarves to black scarves. Check the length of dresses and gowns.

Many other things are uncertain and worrying.

"Dreams are destroyed"

"What should I do?" Many Afghans are asking for urgent advice or escape help in conversations on my phone, my computer, and the phones of countless others around the world.

Maryam Rajai knew what to do when Kabul fell.

When Taliban fighters took to the streets on August 15, she was running a long-awaited workshop for female prosecutors at the Public Prosecutor's Office.

The Taliban broke up a demonstration of dozens of women in Kabul demanding women's rights

The Taliban pledge to protect the rights of women and the media, and NATO warns them against giving a foothold to terrorists

As she pointed to the looming threat, the excited trainees implored her, "We must continue."

However, the trainees soon succumbed to this sudden development. Since then, Rajai has been moving from one safe house to another with her family, which includes two young children.

Her three-year-old daughter Nilufer says she wants to be an engineer while her multicolored plastic building blocks lie in the corner of a brick room as the late summer sun streams through the windows.

No one is yet quite sure what the Taliban leaders mean when they say that women and girls will have "all their rights in Islam".

Many of the women, including Rajai, have been told in no uncertain terms, "Don't go back to the office." Many of them fear that they will not be allowed to return to the life they lived in the city of Batin, which they do not feel is their own.

Rajaee told us emotionally, as she sat beside a pile of books related to her university studies and her work at the head of a unit concerned with gender and human rights awareness: “I have the right to be educated, to have a good job, and to participate in society at a high level. All my dreams have been destroyed.” ".

collaborators left by the West

Two decades of internationalism created space for new ideas and new identities, but some of those lives are now a burden.

"I have good memories of the Christmas parties we had, the times when we cooked delicious food and we were all very happy," recalls Hamid, who was chef at the British Embassy in Kabul for 13 years. Hameed said this as we squatted on a rug with his five young children, a stack of faded photos and certificates of appreciation for his work.

But Hamid and about 60 other embassy employees were hired through a private contractor. Sources say that all the staff who were employed by the British Foreign Office directly managed to leave Kabul before the Taliban moved in, while the collaborators who joined the embassy through contractors were let go.

The Taliban are "hunting" those who collaborate with foreign forces

What is the national and religious composition of Afghanistan?

Who are the Pashtuns who form the backbone of the Taliban?

"We worked hard even during the Covid lockdown," Hamid lamented. "If they don't get us out of here, it's a great betrayal." Britain, like some other Western countries, pledges to find ways to help through a third country, but for many finding new ways out is arduous and dangerous.

Chat with the Taliban

Some have already fled this city in haste, while Taliban fighters are pouring into Kabul from the provinces. A group of fighters from Uruzgan district, in central Afghanistan, invited us to chat as we approached the entrance of Kabul airport .

Rafiullah, 25, says of his "great happiness": "I haven't been able to visit Kabul for years." When I asked him about his stance that many educated Afghans his age felt their future was foregone, he waved an olive branch, saying, "We are all Afghans and the country is now moving towards a good path of peace and prosperity."

Teenage taboos, hosted by Karima Kawah and edited by Mais Baqi.

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In some neighbourhoods, Taliban fighters are going from house to house, knocking on doors demanding they hand over government phones, cars and anything of value from their old job. Sometimes, the Taliban even confiscate private cars which they suspect cannot be obtained without some kind of corruption.

Fierce battles between the Taliban and their opponents in the Panjshir Valley, amid reports of hundreds of deaths

Learn about the Afghan province of Panjshir, in which the Soviets and the Taliban were defeated

Ahmed Massoud is following in the footsteps of his father, Ahmed Shah Massoud, in resisting the Taliban

In western Kabul, in neighborhoods like Dasht-e-Parchi that are largely inhabited by members of the Hazara minority, residents whisper of house searches and of men being taken away.

A woman who moves to the city center for work says, "I'm scared. We are telling the Taliban that we are the only source of income for our families and we have to go to work."

"Is this real?"

In the heart of the Afghan capital, Kabul, queues are spread out in front of banks all along the road, and most of their branches are closed, and most of them have no money.

"It's been a week since I've been coming every day to get some money, this is a new beginning just to go back," said a man from the swelled crowd.

From rural areas far from this city, comments expressing relief that American warplanes have finally left the skies and the fighting is over, but for millions of Afghans suffering from extreme hunger and hardship, life has not changed one iota in their struggle for mere survival. .

In this time between the collapse of the old order and the creation of the new one, many live day by day.

Who is Hebatullah Akhundzadeh, the leader of the Taliban?

Who is Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the "real" leader of the Taliban?

Biden defends the "messy" US withdrawal from Afghanistan

Is this history? Is this real?

We spoke in an area strewn with rubbish and abandoned baggage as we scrambled to board the latest military flights during the unprecedented international airlift. Mangli first began working in Kabul when the Taliban regime was overthrown 20 years ago.

Mangli said: "The Taliban spokesman is trying to control the media discourse, but everyone has a weapon and everyone feels that he is a king. I do not know how long I can bear this danger, but I want to be part of this history."

So a historic moment unfolds as the past is undone as billboards of jubilant brides in shimmering white gowns and racy lipstick dim out.

The street murals of the Art Lords team, which tell the stories of brave journalists, committed doctors, and the yearning for peace after all these wars, have been obliterated. The first blurred image was a black and white drawing marking the signing of an agreement last year in Doha between the Taliban and the United States.

Will the Taliban repeat their past experience or learn from their mistakes?

How was the Taliban able to impose its control over Afghanistan?

The Taliban take over the presidential palace in Kabul

How much did the war in Afghanistan cost Washington and its allies?

A nation of poets is now struggling to find the right words. Masood Khalili, an old friend who fought on many fronts over many years, sent me some poetry.

Last night, the writer of destiny whispered in my ear that the book of our destiny is full of smiles and tears,” Khalili says.