Taliban’s return: Afghan women speak of fear, forced marriage, and stolen dreams

Five years after the Taliban regained power and enforced their strict interpretation of Sharia law, the women of Kabul are living in a state of constant dread. In a rare series of interviews, our special correspondent met with these women, who have been pushed out of public life and into the shadows. The women described a daily existence ruled by fear. They spoke of the suffocating control exerted by their own families, the looming threat of forced marriages, and the painful loss of the futures they once imagined. For them, the return of the Taliban did not just change the government; it erased their place in society. These are the voices of women who have become almost invisible in their own country. Their stories reveal a reality far removed from political rhetoric—a life of quiet terror and profound loss.