‘I was a policewoman. Now I beg in the street’: life for Afghan women one year after the Taliban took power - The Guardian

Over the past month, Rukhshana Media has talked to women across the country about their experiences of living under Taliban rule.

After the hijab order was announced, I was caught by Taliban fighters.

In June, I was travelling with my brother and we were stopped at a checkpoint by Taliban fighters.

When my brother said we didn’t carry our ID cards with us, they got angry and one of them hit him with a rifle and was about to fire.

My friend and I were chatting on the bus on the way to work in the Hazara Shia neighbourhood of west Kabul when suddenly the world around us exploded.

Since the Taliban took control, security has deteriorated and our bus had been bombed by IS militants.

After the Taliban took over, things were hard but I continued my work and was determined to live bravely.

I lost my husband in an airstrike five years ago, and before the Taliban took power I worked and sold street food to support my children.

Now I am not allowed to work.

The Taliban has given me and other widows a card to claim a sack of wheat, three litres of cooking oil and 1,000 Afghani [£9] every three months, but this is not enough to keep our family going.

If we can’t work, I’m worried we will starve.

Until the Taliban took power, I worked as a police officer.

Now I have lost my job, and the Taliban have been hunting down women who worked in the security services.

When I was told I wasn’t allowed to go to school, I was depressed and had no motivation to work and study at home.

I should be in grade 12 but I’m not allowed to go to school.

After the Taliban took power, I decided to turn challenge into opportunity, so now I buy raw materials like beads and fabric from the market and sell them on to women who make traditional clothing in their homes.

Since the Taliban came to power, making art is a dangerous job.

The Taliban said I can continue with my engravings, but I know it is impossible.

Two months into the Taliban rule in Herat, myself and four friends decided to form a book club