Protests for women's rights around the country are posing a challenge for Afghanistan's new Taliban rulers.
"They were asked to be a little patient and when the system has been established and the organisations are functioning then they will get back to you," a Taliban spokesperson said this week, referring to female protesters.
Now ministers have been named, the expectations of a society where civil rights have been strengthened over the past two decades are only likely to grow. The last time the Taliban ruled Afghanistan, from 1996 to 2001, girls could not attend school and women were banned from work and education. Religious police would flog anyone breaking the rules, and public executions were carried out.
The group has promised to be more tolerant this time — a commitment many Afghans and foreign donors have expressed doubts about, and will be monitoring closely.Female students in the western city of Herat said they would lobby loudly for greater representation in the new government and for their rights to be respected.
"Women have to come out to save our jobs and status in society. It is really a now or never situation," Dariya Imani, a business student at Herat University, said.
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