Afghanistan is the "land of the Afghans," a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central and South Asia.
Sharing borders with Pakistan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and China, the country that occupies more than 650,000km2 of land area is mostly mountainous with plains. It's the home for about 32 million people, composed mostly of ethnic Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazaras, and Uzbeks.
In the country, Kabul serves as its capital and its largest city.
Afghanistan has a long history, which can be dated back to thousands of years. It has seen many empires and kingdoms, as well as numerous dynasties. The most recent, is its role in the post-Cold War conflict, as well as with the Taliban regime.
Most notably, was in 1996, when the Taliban began their governance of Afghanistan after the fall of Kabul. The Taliban created what they called, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. During that time, among others, women had virtually all their rights taken away. Matters ranging from wearing nail polish to job opportunities were severely restricted.
The Taliban argued that by keeping women indoors, women are safer from harm.
The Taliban controlled the country until 2001, until the U.S. invaded the country to remove the Taliban from power, after they refused to hand over Osama bin Laden.
Without the Taliban, it was the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, where among others, women's rights were gradually improved. Women were made equal to their men counterpart under the 2005 constitution.
However, two decades and $2 trillion later, under the Joe Biden administration, the U.S. left the country. But sooner than later, that left the Taliban to retake Kabul.
And because of that, concerns about the future for women in the country have again increased.
While the Taliban said that they want to allow women to continue their studies, and allowing them to work, among others, there are some mandates.
For example, classrooms must separate men from women, and lecturers who lecture women, should either be women, or old men.
What's more, the Taliban also mandates women to wear hijabs, in accordance with the group's interpretation of Sharia law. The hijabs' style include the black attire that covers women from head-to-toe.
In response, Afghan women around the world are protesting this requirements, by posting photos of themselves wearing colorful traditional Afghanistan dresses on social media.
As seen from the many posts and photos, the women wore bright and colorful dresses, which are a stark contrast to the black hijab mandate outlined by the Taliban.
Many of the women said that hijabs existed before Kabul's fall. There are a lot of hijabi women, and nothing is wrong with hearing the attire.
However, in Afghanistan, wearing hijab was based on the women's own decision and their families, and not the government.
By forcing women to wear the full hijab attire, Taliban that has put themselves as the government, is going against the history of Afghanistan, as it is utterly foreign.
When Afghanistan women on social media wore colorful dresses, in Kabul and on its streets, women students were seen wearing the head-to-toe black robes and waving Afghanistan's 2021 black-and-white flag to protest the mandates.
The fate of women in Afghanistan has been a major source of concern ever since the Taliban swiftly took over Kabul following the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. and international troops in August of 2021.
Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani fled to Tajikistan, precipitating the "official" fall of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.
It was only after Ghani fled, that the Taliban occupied the Presidential palace, and claimed Kabul.
Taliban has historically treated women as second-class citizens, subjecting them to violence, forced marriages and a near-invisible presence in the country.
But this time, despite promising something different, the Taliban has yet to put female representatives to its formed interim government. This makes the world to worry that women in the country are again facing uncertainties.
