When the Taliban took over power in Afghanistan on Sunday, hundreds of panic-stricken citizens took to their heels. Many of the fleeing Afghans had either witnessed the Taliban’s reign of extremism and human rights abuses two decades ago or listened to its tales.

PeaceWomen, an international league for peace and freedom, documented the plights of women abused by the Taliban-ruled Afghanistan in 1998.

“The extent to which the Taliban regime has violated the human rights of Afghan women is unparalleled in recent history,” the organisation stated in a report.

The report also showed evidence of how Afghan women had played a prominent role in government, health and teaching professions in the society. They were later brutalised and beaten “for walking on the street without a male chaperone or without a garment that cover[ed] their body from head to toe”.

Shukriya Barakzai, a student of Hydrometeorology and Geophysics at the Kabul University revealed how the lives of women depended on the presence of their husbands during the reign of the terror group.

“Are you familiar with something we call sadism?” Barakzai asked a reporter of The Atlantic. “Like they don’t know why, but they are just trying to beat you, harm you, disrespect you. This is now [what] they enjoy. Even they don’t know the reason.”

According to Barakzai, women were best kept for marriage and childbearing. When the Taliban banned female education, activists had to organise underground classes for females to ensure that they continued to learn. The use of makeup, nail polishes, photography and entertainment became sins punishable by execution.

In 2001, when the Taliban were defeated, women were finally able to live on their own. Many of them returned to school and participated in government. They were also allowed to offer services, engage in businesses and travel on their own.     

However, with the return of the Taliban to power on Sunday, women may be forced to live in the past. Within 48 hours of their takeover, billboard images of women without headscarves have been torn down. A report by the Associated Press revealed how girls were recently lashed for wearing revealing sandals while female school teachers were no longer allowed to work alone.

Women bankers have also been sacked and replaced with their male counterparts, according to Reuters.

Zabhullah Mujahid, the spokesperson of the Taliban, told Reuters that the new government would decide on the freedom of women in the country.

“After the establishment of the Islamic system, it will be decided according to the law, and God willing, there will be no problems,” Mujahid said.