Girls wearing white hijabs and black tunics crammed into classrooms in the western Afghan city of Herat just days after the Taliban’s takeover.As the school opened its doors, the students scurried down corridors and chatted in courtyards, seemingly oblivious to the turmoil that has engulfed the country in the past two weeks.
Women and girls walked more freely in the streets, attending schools and colleges in huge numbers in a city famed for its poetry and arts.Under the hardline version of sharia law that the Taliban imposed when they controlled Afghanistan in the 1990s, women and girls were mostly denied education and employment.
Asked what the difference was between the movement ousted 20 years ago and the Taliban of today, he said: “If the question is based on ideology, and beliefs, there is no difference… but if we calculate it based on experience, maturity, and insight, no doubt there are many differences.Still, people have been entering public life cautiously, with women largely absent from the streets of Kabul and men trading their Western clothes for more traditional Afghan garb.