KABUL, Afghanistan — Farzana Ahmadi watched as a neighbor in her village in northern Afghanistan was flogged by Taliban fighters last month. The crime: Her face was uncovered.
“Every woman should cover their eyes,” Ms. Ahmadi recalled one Taliban member saying. People silently watched as the beating dragged on.
Fear — even more potent than in years past — is gripping Afghans now that U.S. and NATO forces will depart the country , they will leave behind a publicly triumphant Taliban, who will seize territory and reinstitute many of the same oppressive rules they enforced under their regime in the 1990s.
The New York Times spoke to many Afghan women — members of civil society, politicians, journalists and others — about what comes next in their country, and they all said the same thing: Whatever happens will not bode well for them.