Afghan women tell the BBC their lives are unrecognisable after five years of Taliban rule

Key Points:

• Five years after the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan in 2021, women and girls report severe restrictions on their rights, including bans on secondary education for girls over 12 and limitations on travel without male accompaniment.
• The Taliban's foreign minister claims women are not entirely restricted, citing that three million girls attend schools and madrassas, but UN data shows only 7% of Afghan women are employed due to bans in many workplaces and fields of study.
• Public corporal punishments, including flogging, have resumed under the Taliban, with women like Shaima and Manizha suffering severe physical and psychological trauma from lashings and imprisonment.
• Healthcare access for women is critically limited, contributing to Afghanistan's high maternal mortality rate, as many women cannot be treated by male doctors under Taliban rules.
• Despite the hardships, some Afghan women maintain hope for the future and call on the international community to support their rights to education and work, emphasizing the need for global solidarity rather than silence.