
EVER since Kabul fell to the Taliban in August 2021, the world has turned very bleak for Afghan women. As they did when they first took power in the 1990s, the Taliban immediately set about erasing women from public spaces in Afghanistan. Deploying a self-serving interpretation of religion, they issued edicts requiring women to cover themselves completely in public and be constantly accompanied by a male guardian. In later months, they imposed even more draconian restrictions, make it nearly impossible for women to work outside the home even in desperately needed professions like medicine and teaching. Currently, women can only get primary education. If there is any other freedom left to prohibit, it is a safe bet that they have eliminated it.