Women students stand outside Kabul University in Afghanistan. As of December 2022, the Taliban banned women from higher education. For some, a USAID grant provided online options as well as a chance to study abroad. That program was terminated, then reinstated through the current semester. But there's no word on whether it will continue in the fall. Ebrahim Noroozi/AP hide caption
In 2022, a man in Kabul covered his face to protect his identity, as he showed his harmonium musical instrument. The Taliban have begun to burn these instruments, and others. Hussein Malla/AP hide caption
Marzia Mohammadi, left, and Hajar Mohammadi were best friends and cousins who died in a suicide bombing at a learning center in Kabul. Marzia's diary captures both the hopes and fears of young Afghan women, particularly Hazaras, under Taliban rule. Mohammadi Family hide caption
A composite photo shows TV anchors Hamed Bahram (left) and Nesar Nabil wearing face masks while reading the news on TOLOnews, in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Sunday. Ebrahim Noroozi/AP hide caption
Dr. Saleema Rehman stands outside Holy Family Hospital in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. The Afghan refugee of Turkmen origin has won UNHCR's Nansen Award for her work helping refugee moms and babies in Pakistan. Betsy Joles for NPR hide caption
Girls gather at a gender-segregated school in Kabul on Sept. 15. When older secondary students returned to classes, female students were told to wait. Bulent Kilic/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Taliban fighters sit on the back of a pickup truck as they stop on a hillside in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Sept. 19. Felipe Dana/AP hide caption
Women march to demand their rights under the Taliban rule during a demonstration near the former Women's Affairs Ministry building in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Sunday. The interim mayor of Afghanistan's capital said that many female city employees have been ordered to stay home by the country's new Taliban rulers. AP hide caption
Protesters march in Kabul on Wednesday, a day after the Taliban announced their all-male interim government. At left, a protester carries a sign with a photo showing Banu Negar, a pregnant police officer who was killed in front of her relatives early this week in Ghor province. Family members accuse the Taliban of carrying out the killing. Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images hide caption
Afghans rush to the Hamid Karzai International Airport as they try to flee the Taliban takeover of Kabul. Haroon Sabawoon/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images hide caption
Internally displaced Afghan women from northern provinces, who fled their home due to fighting between the Taliban and Afghan security personnel, receive medical care in a public park in Kabul last Tuesday. Rahmat Gul/AP hide caption
Players from the Herat Storm celebrate after winning the championship of the Afghan women's soccer league on October 16 in Kabul. Rahmatullah Alizadah/Xinhua via Getty Images hide caption
"What makes me hopeful about women's rights in Afghanistan is that women themselves, they have their own voice," Roya Rahmani, Afghanistan's ambassador to the U.S., tells NPR. Amr Alfiky/NPR hide caption
U.S. and Taliban negotiators meet in Doha, Qatar, on Feb. 26. Qatar Ministry of Foreign Affairs via AP hide caption
A boy holds the burqa of his mother as they walk down a street in the old city of Kabul on November 1, 2009. Nicolas Asfouri/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
Lubna Olayan in her office at Olayan Financing Company in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in April. Fatma Tanis/NPR hide caption
A group of Afghan women are attempting to reach the 24,580-foot summit this summer. In mid-May, two of the climbers, along with two American chaperones, visited Afghanistan's highest mountain to see the terrain firsthand in preparation for the historic climb. Soraya Sarhaddi-Nelson/NPR hide caption
At the Romez Store in Kabul, brides-to-be can place custom orders for dresses costing upwards of $900, which is three times the average monthly wage in Afghanistan. Sean Carberry/NPR hide caption
The women of the Afghan National Cycling Federation team train outside Kabul, the capital. They face poor road conditions, terrible traffic, lots of gawking and even threats of violence in pursuit of their sport. Peter Breslow/NPR hide caption
For many women in Afghanistan, life has not changed significantly in the 10 years since the fall of the Taliban. Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
June 4, 2011: women and girls at a literacy class in Anjil, Afghanistan. AP hide caption