What happened to the women in Taliban?

After the Taliban restricted Afghan women's ability to work, learn and go out in public, some women initially defied these new rules, taking to the streets to protest. But soon, those who gathered in the capital Kabul and other major cities to demand "food, work, freedom" felt the full force of the Taliban. Protesters tell the  they were beaten, abused, jailed and even threatened with death by stoning. We speak to three women who challenged the Taliban government after it began to place restrictions on women's freedom following the Taliban's takeover on 15 August 2021. When Taliban militants took over Kabul on 15 August 2021, Zakia's life began to crumble.

She had been the breadwinner for her family before the Taliban returned to power - but quickly lost her job following the takeover. When Zakia (who is using a pseudonym) joined a protest more than a year later in December 2022, it was her first chance to express her anger at losing the right to work and to education. Protesters were marching to Kabul University, chosen for its "symbolic importance", but were stopped before they could reach their destination. Zakia was loudly shouting slogans when Taliban armed police put an end to her short-lived rebellion.

"One of them pointed his gun right into my mouth and threatened to kill me right there if I didn't shut up," she recalls. Zakia saw fellow protesters bundled into a vehicle. "I resisted. They were twisting my arms," ​​she says. "I was being pulled by the Taliban who were trying to load me into their vehicle and other fellow protesters who were trying to release me." In the end, Zakia managed to escape - but what she saw that day left her terrified for the future. "Violence was not taking place behind closed doors any more," she says, "it was taking place on the streets of capital Kabul in full public view."