Afghanistan: Two years on from the Taliban seizing power, women fight back against poverty and restrictions
Women in Afghanistan have set up secret businesses to escape the brutal restrictions of the Taliban, who swept to power two years ago today.
Since the August 2021 takeover, the group has become entrenched as rulers of Afghanistan and faces no significant opposition that could topple the regime.
The Taliban‘s seizing of power resulted in the end of two decades of increased economic opportunities and freedom for women in the country.
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‘No hope’ for Afghan women
Marzia Babakarkhail, a former family court judge in Afghanistan, told Sky News that women in the country are “in a battle”.
“We have no happiness outside or inside Afghanistan. We have no hope, we have no future for the young generation. There is just darkness and hopelessness,” she said.
The Taliban banned women from doing most jobs, barred girls and young women from secondary school and university education and imposed harsh curtailments on their freedoms.
All the while, the country faces a severe economic crisis, with 85% of the population living under the poverty line.
But some women whose businesses were destroyed have made the transition to smaller, underground enterprises to make ends meet.
Women in Kabul in November 2022
Laila Haidari’s restaurant was a lively hive of activity in Kabul that was known for its music and poetry evenings and was popular with intellectuals, writers, journalists and foreigners.
She reinvested the profits from the restaurant into a drugs rehabilitation centre she set up nearby.
But just a few days after the Taliban seized power, the group destroyed Ms Haidari’s restaurant, looted the furniture, and threw out the patients attending the rehab centre.
Just five months later, she opened a secret craft centre where women can earn a small income stitching dresses and fashioning jewellery from melted-down bullet casings.
“I opened this centre to provide jobs for women who desperately need them,” Ms Haidari said.
“This is not a permanent solution, but at least it will help them put food on their table.”
An Afghan woman walks among Taliban soldiers at a checkpoint in Kabul last month
The centre now helps fund an underground school providing 200 girls with lessons in maths and English. Some attend in person, others online.
“I don’t want Afghan girls to forget their knowledge and then, in a few years, we will have another illiterate generation,” Ms Haidairi said, referring to the women and girls deprived of education during the Taliban’s last period of rule from 1996 to 2001.
The centre, which also makes men’s clothing, rugs and home decor items, employs about 50 women who earn around £47 a month.
“If the Taliban try to stop me I’ll tell them they must pay me and pay these women,” she said.
“Otherwise, how will we eat?”
Dressmaker Wajiha Sekhawat, 25, created outfits for clients based on celebrities’ social media posts before August 2021.
But now her monthly income has fallen from about £470 to less than £150 partly due to demand for party dresses and business outfits plummeting after most women lost their jobs.
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She would travel to Pakistan and Iran to buy fabrics for clients but now cannot travel without a male chaperone – a mahram – and often cannot afford the cost of doing so.
When she sent a male family member to Pakistan in her place he returned with the wrong fabrics.
“I used to make regular business trips abroad by myself, but now I can’t even go out for a coffee,” Ms Sekhawat said.
“It’s suffocating. Some days I just go to my room and scream.”
The restrictions are particularly difficult for the country’s estimated two million widows, as well as single women and divorcees who may not have anyone to act as their male chaperone.
After her husband’s death in 2015, Sadaf relied on the income from her busy Kabul beauty salon to support her five children.
Kabul in November 2022
She offered hairstyling, make-up, manicures and wedding makeovers to a wide range of women from government workers to TV presenters.
Sadaf, 43, who asked to use a pseudonym, began running her business from home after the Taliban told her to shut her salon.
But with clients having lost their own jobs, most stopped coming or cut back and her monthly income dropped dramatically.
Last month the authorities ordered all salons to shut down, saying they offered treatments that went against their Islamic values.
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More than 60,000 women are likely to lose their jobs as a result, according to industry estimates.
While the future looks grim for women’s freedoms in the country, aid agencies said they are emphasising the economic benefits of allowing women to work when negotiating with Taliban authorities.
“We tell them if we create jobs it means that these women can feed their family, it means they are paying taxes,” Melissa Cornet, an adviser to CARE Afghanistan, said.
“We try to have a pragmatic approach and usually it’s quite successful. The Taliban are very keen on the economic argument.”
At least 36 people have been killed after a fire engulfed several buildings at a high-rise residential complex in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong leader John Lee said another 279 people were reported missing. He said 29 people remained in hospital.
About 900 people have been evacuated to temporary shelters after the blaze – Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in years – broke out at the Wang Fuk Court housing complex in the city’s Tai Po district.
Three men have since been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter, broadcaster RTHK reported.
Pics: AP
Meanwhile, fire chiefs said the high temperatures were making it challenging for crews to mount rescue operations.
Mr Lee said the fire was “coming under control” shortly after midnight.
The blaze was upgraded to a level 5 alarm, the highest level of severity, as night fell.
Pics: AP
The dead included one firefighter, officials said earlier.
A number of other firefighters were said to have been hurt while trying to tackle the flames as they ripped through the 31-storey towers.
Pic: Reuters
Pic: AP
Records show the Wang Fuk Court site consists of eight blocks, with almost 2,000 apartments housing around 4,800 residents, including many elderly people. It was built in the 1980s and has recently been undergoing a major renovation.
Pic: Reuters
Pic: Reuters
The fire, which broke out at 2.51pm local time, had spread on bamboo scaffolding and construction netting set up around the exterior of the complex.
It was not known how the fire started, but officials said it began on the external scaffolding of one of the buildings before spreading inside and to nearby buildings, likely aided by windy conditions.
Pic: Reuters
Pic: Reuters
Flames and smoke were still pouring out of many windows as night fell.
Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed condolences to the firefighter who died, and extended his sympathies to the families of the victims, according to state broadcaster CCTV. He also urged an “all-out” effort to minimise casualties and losses.
The UK’s foreign secretary described the fire as “truly devastating and deeply depressing”. Yvette Cooper said: “The UK sends heartfelt condolences to all the families affected and to the people of Hong Kong.”
Tai Po is in the northern part of Hong Kong, and close to the border with the mainland Chinese city of Shenzhen.
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Bamboo scaffolding is a common sight in Hong Kong at building construction and renovation projects.
However, the government said earlier this year it would start phasing it out for public projects because of safety concerns.
The blaze is the deadliest fire in Hong Kong since the deaths of 41 people in a commercial building in Kowloon in November 1996.
That fire was later found to have been caused by welding during internal renovations, with a public inquiry yielding sweeping updates to building standards and fire safety regulations in the city’s high-rise offices, shops and homes.
Two military personnel who were shot near the White House in Washington DC have died.
A suspect has been taken into custody and the area secured, police said.
The White House was placed into lockdown, while US President Donald Trump is away in Florida.
Washington DC shooting latest updates
Pics: AP
Mr Trump initially posted on his Truth Social platform to say the two National Guardsmen had been “critically wounded”, adding that the “animal” that shot them “is also severely wounded, but regardless, will pay a very steep price”.
But West Virginia’s governor said both victims were members of his state’s National Guard and had died from their injuries.
Patrick Morrisey added: “These brave West Virginians lost their lives in the service of their country. … Our entire state grieves with their families, their loved ones, and the Guard community. West Virginia will never forget their service or their sacrifice, and we will demand full accountability for this horrific act.”
Pic: AP
Police tape cordoned off the scene, while agents from the US Secret Service and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were on the scene, as National Guard troops stood sentry nearby.
Emergency personnel cordon off an area near where National Guard soldiers were shot. Pics: AP
The Joint DC Task Force confirmed it was responding to an incident in the vicinity of the White House.
The DC Police Department posted on X: “Critical Incident: MPD is on the scene of a shooting at 17th and I Street, NW. Please avoid the area.”
In an update, the force said: “The scene is secured. One suspect is in custody.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: “The White House is aware and actively monitoring this tragic situation.
“The president has been briefed.”
Mr Trump was at his resort in Palm Beach ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, while US vice president JD Vance was in Kentucky.
Flights arriving at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport were temporarily halted due to its proximity to the scene of the shooting, the US Federal Aviation Administration said.
Hundreds of National Guard members have been patrolling the nation’s capital after Mr Trump issued an emergency order in August, which federalised the local police force and sent in the guard from eight states and the District of Columbia.
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