When Kabul fell, women realised they didn't have the right clothes to appease their new rulers (2024)

It was the sound of distant gunfire that signified life in the Afghan capital was about to change suddenly and drastically.

Sarah, not her real name, was teaching an online class when news broke the Taliban had entered Kabul.

She rushed to the shops to try and stock up on supplies, but it was futile.

The city had shut down and, as the implications of her newreality began to sink in, afeeling of dread washed over her.

"People are really, really scared right now," she told the ABC, just hours after the news broke.

"People were rushing to the banks, they wanted to withdraw money.

"[But] the banks are closed, the shops are closed, the malls, the cafes I normally go to are closed."

The speed at which the Taliban were able to conquer the country and claim the capital has stunned analysts and intelligence agencies.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken admitted the Taliban took control of Afghanistan far quickerthan the White House predicted.

As the hard-line Islamists entered the capital, meeting no resistance, it signified a life many had known for two decades was now over.

Afghan women, in particular, nowfear what the future holds.

"I'm going to have to deal with someone who is not OK with me," Sarah said about the Taliban.

"Who's not OK with my voice. Who's not OKwith what I wear. Who's not OKwith what I do.

"I really feel unsafe."

Desperate scenes as many scramble to flee

Hundreds, if not thousands, fled to the airport in desperate hope there was a way out, with video footage circulating online showing people attempting to climb the stairs of a plane on the tarmac.

Others can be seen running to try and get the last flights out.

Aisha Ahmad, a student at Kabul University, said she went straight to the airport after she got a call from a friend that people were leaving.

"I ran to the airport but unfortunately there were thousands and I was attacked," she said.

"I felt at one time that this was the end and I will die."

She says she has losthope and worries that itwill "not be an easy path for Afghan women".

"Now I feel like I'm in a tunnel, not really dark, but I can't see any bright light either," she said.

Women on the streets have startedto panic over whether their "short" clothing now made them a target.Sarah herself was warned to buy a bigger scarf to cover up.

"The whole day I've been thinking, 'oh my God, what is happening?'" Sarah said.

"I was not prepared for this. I'm sure nobody was mentally prepared for this transition."

She knows her time as an activist, campaigning for women's rights, could make her a target, and like many others, is now looking for options to leave.

Entire livesupended

After fighters took the presidential palace in Kabul, the Taliban declared the war in Afghanistan had ended and a new Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan was being installed.

The insurgency has attempted to distance itself from its past, when it was isolated from the world, stating it would seek to build peaceful relations with the international community.

But there is widespread concern women will be subjected to the same brutal treatment and harsh restrictions the former regime imposed.

Under the Taliban's rule,girls were barred from completing their education, playing sport or holding a job.

They were forced to cover their body and faces and could not leave the house unless accompanied by a man.

The Taliban also carried out public executions, chopped off the hands of thievesand stoned women accused of adultery.

Hosna Jalil, who was the country's former deputy minister for women affairs, predicted the new regime would be even more ruthless than the old.

She believesits leaders will seekrevenge on those it saw as responsible for casting them from power.

"Today's Taliban is much more dangerous and much more brutal than they were during their first round of rule," she said.

Women have already been removed from their jobs and prevented from going to university, according to reports, while Taliban rulers in the provinces of Badakhshan and Takhar have reportedly ordered local leaders to provide them with a list of girls over 15 that it could forcibly marry.

Ms Jalil shared the shock of many women at how quickly their lives had been upended.

Questions raised over political failures

Two years ago, Ms Jalil, who also served as deputy minister for interior affairs, was part of a team that calculated how the national army would repel a resurgent Taliban, after the US and its allies had left.

The team estimated some districts would fall, but there would at least be resistance.

It now appears this was vastly overestimated, although even a senior Taliban leader has claimed their "victory" was "unexpected".

Much blame has been put on the Afghan army being poorly resourced and over stretched. But Ms Jalil was concerned blame lay at the country's political leaders.

"Considering that we are surrendering without any resistance, for me, I would say we haven't failed militarily, but we failed politically," she said.

Enayat Najafizada, who set up the Kabul think tank The Institute of War and Peace Studies, agreed.

"I sense there has been some sort of back channel agreement with between some of the Afghan political leaders and the Taliban," he said.

"Otherwise, the Afghan national security defence forces and security forces would have not left the battlefield.

"I sense it. I feel it."