When the Taliban had occupied Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001, the militant organisation had imposed the harshest of patriarchal rules.
Twenty years later, as the Taliban takes control of the country again, a new generation of Afghan women find themselves in the same fetters that their mothers had fought hard to break.
The last time Taliban came to power, the hardline Islamist group imposed the strictest of patriarchal rules.
(Image: The Quint/Aroop Mishra)
Under the previous Taliban reign, girls were not allowed to enter schools or attend universities. Women could not step out of their homes without a male relative to escort them, and had to cover their faces at all times. The infringement of any of the Taliban-imposed patriarchal mandates was punished with public humiliation.
As the US troops, which had invaded the nation to unseat the Taliban in 2001, withdrew from Afghanistan in the recent weeks, the insurgents on Sunday, 15 August, seized power of the country again.
With the coming of the Taliban to power, several Afghan women have protested against the curtailment of their freedom.
In what has been termed by many the 'first agitation of its kind', Afghan women were seen taking to the streets of Kabul this week – staging a protest and demanding equal rights.
(Kaafi Real is a series of cartoons on The Quint. You can check out all our other Kaafi Real cartoons here.)
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