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Afghans are waking up to a new normal without knowing what is normal.
As the Taliban have taken control of Afghanistan, people start to take to the streets again, fearful, with the uncertainty of what can happen under the new regime.
Especially the women they live in anguish. Under Sharia, Islamic law, there are harsh consequences for things as simple as being seen in public with your head uncovered.
People feign normalcy on the streets, says Nasim Javid (not his real name), an Afghan from Mazar-i-Sharif, one of Afghanistan’s main trading towns.
“But nothing is normal. I can feel the fear in my bones when I go out. The Taliban are everywhere, ”he told the BBC.
The heavily armed militiamen are trying to talk to community leaders to reassure the population.
But “fear can be felt everywhere,” says Javid.
A surreal “new normal”
Secunder Kermani, BBC Afghanistan correspondent, says beyond Kabul airport – where “absolute chaos” reigns over foreign evacuations – things appear to be calmer.
Businesses have started to reopen, giving Afghans in the capital a certain air of normalcy.
“There is more traffic on the streets and more people, but not as usual. In particular, there are fewer women. I’ve seen some who don’t necessarily wear the burqa that covers them completely, ”he says.
But sometimes life is interrupted by the constant patrol of heavily armed Taliban men, who say they are there to “prevent looting and riots”.
“What we fear is that in the days and months that will follow, the Taliban will impose stricter restrictions on women,” Kermani said.
Local TV channels have stopped playing music or movies.
Female faces erased
The Taliban have said women will have rights in Afghanistan under Sharia law.
But the women say it is difficult to interpret what this means given the history of the Taliban regime, which in the 1990s imposed restrictions on the lives of Afghan women.
Zeb Hanifa (not her real name) has made desperate appeals to find a way out of the country.
“But so far there is no luck. I beg foreign countries to take us out,” Hanifa, who is a communications professional, told the BBC.
“We all keep imagining horrible scenarios like not being able to work, be married to Taliban fighters and be reduced to giving birth to children “, regrets.
She came to Kabul from another province because she thinks “the capital is the best of the horrible options” for women to live in Afghanistan under Taliban control.
Staying at home is no guarantee
A young student from Kabul says she prefers to stay at home.
“[Los talibanes] They asked everyone to go back to work, but people are afraid to leave the house. We all try to stay inside, ”explains the young woman, who asks not to be identified for her safety.
Being at home is no guarantee of being safe.
“The searches continue despite the announcement of the amnesty. There is so much disorder and uncertainty that this statement still doesn’t match his actions“, To explain.
A Taliban official told Reuters the group “cannot be blamed” for the chaos and violence in Kabul as they strive to maintain law and order.
It’s the “Highest priority“of the group, he says.
Although the militias have declared that they will guarantee the rights of women, their religious interpretation of the secondary place they must occupy in the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan that they intend to create is already beginning to be felt.
Journalist Masih Alinejad posted an example of the new rules on Twitter.
“Yesterday, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid made headlines saying they respect women’s rights. But today is the reality in Kabul: first they remove the photographs women, then they will remove women from the public sphere, “wrote.
The faces of women in a beauty salon were covered with paint.
And over time, reports emerge that in some areas women were rejected from their jobs and others were punished for Sharia violations.
It was then that the United States called on the Taliban to “ensure the protection of women and girls and their rights.”
“We will closely monitor how any future government guarantees their rights and freedoms,” said the secretary of state, Antoine Blink.
“You have to cover yourself completely”
Journalist Sakina Amiri of the Etilaat Roz daily in Kabul had first hand experience of what could happen in the near future.
He had an interview with members of the Taliban on Tuesday.
“They said,” First of all, we don’t approve of what you’re wearing, you have to cover yourself completely ‘. Even my face must not be seen, ”Amiri told the BBC.
Afghanistan has a young population and many cannot remember the last time the Taliban was in power before 2001.
But Amiri says the “new normal” is part of what they’ve been going through for a long time.
“You have to remember that after decades of war worrying about life and what might happen the next day it’s part of life daily for all Afghans, ”he said.
“Especially women.”
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