Life in Kabul 5 years after the Taliban's return

Five years after the return of Taliban rule, NPR visited Kabul to see how Afghans are dealing with their new government's strict social restrictions.

SCOTT SIMON, HOST: When the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan in 2021, they promised a more progressive form of governing than they had imposed in the 1990s when they placed dictates on virtually all aspects of social life, stretching even to painting house windows black so women living beyond them couldn't be seen from the street. That was then. Is the Taliban taking Afghans back to the '90s now, and are Afghans following? NPR's D. Parvaz went to Kabul to see. D PARVAZ, BYLINE: The return of the Taliban meant the return of many restrictions, like the mandatory hijab, which requires that women cover their faces, as well as limits on how men and women can socialize and so much more. But how those rules are obeyed or even at times enforced looks different now than it did in the '90s. For instance, you see women on TV on all sorts of programming usually wearing a COVID mask instead of full-face coverings. (SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "VICTOR AZMOON") UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Speaking Dari). PARVAZ: This is a game show called "Victor Azmoon," Victor being the energy drink sponsor of the show and azmoon meaning test. The host and contestants are all women. It's a Trivial Pursuit game, pitting two teams against each other. (SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "VICTOR AZMOON") UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Speaking Dari). PARVAZ: Off TV and on the streets, some women wear more casual forms of hijabs, especially in Kabul, which is less conservative than, say, Kandahar. It's normal to see them moving through the city without male guardianship. For example, I saw one woman walking alone through central Kabul. Her robe, or chapan, was shorter than typical, and with her ankles showing, she walked with this great unhurried confidence in a pair of flame-red flats. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Speaking Dari). PARVAZ: "As much as I can, I will go without a mask. As much as I can, I will have a voice. And I like to be seen," says one woman I spoke to who requested that we not name her, fearing retribution from the Taliban. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Speaking Dari). PARVAZ: She says, "all of these are acts of resistance that without a doubt will one day lead to change." All of these behaviors are risky because the Taliban's virtue and vice patrols periodically do sweeps, cracking down on those who flout the laws. One of the earliest targets was beauty salons. In 2023, the Taliban ordered the closure of around 3,000 salons in Kabul and 12,000 nationwide because they said the businesses were un-Islamic. So now salons operate underground. They still advertise online, although their addresses are hidden. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR: (Speaking Dari). (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) PARVAZ: This ad shows the face of a woman in full-glam makeup, blue contact lenses and all. She is covering the lower portion of her face with a manicured hand. The line, which sounds like it's from a movie, basically says, when you have eyes like that, why would you need a sword to kill? I spoke to a beautician in Kabul about how things are going for her. She didn't want to be named, fearing being targeted by the Taliban. UNIDENTIFIED BEAUTICIAN: (Speaking Dari). PARVAZ: She's running a clandestine salon from her home, she says, and the Taliban are constantly threatening to shut down all such businesses. UNIDENTIFIED BEAUTICIAN: (Speaking Dari). PARVAZ: She says working like this is very dangerous and that she has to sneak clients in and out without attracting attention. Still, it's clear the Taliban know the salons are out there and operating, and it sort of shows the duality at play in Afghanistan. For instance, movie theaters have been shut down, but you can watch movies on TV on channels from Iran, Pakistan or even India. And dating isn't allowed, but it certainly happens and often in the open. There are some restrictions for men too. They aren't allowed to have certain Western haircuts, like fades or wear tight shirts or shorts that show their knees. And some of this butts up against something Afghan men seem to be struggling with the same as men here, the notions of masculinity, which means that looksmaxxing is starting to be a thing there. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) PARVAZ: That's just one of many Instagram posts showing young Afghan men flexing at the gym, mussing up their hair or showing off their jaw lines. Men, including members of the Taliban, are spending more time in gyms. Supplements and steroids are becoming popular, and posters advertising gyms show headless bodies with bare, veiny, muscular torsos clad in tiny verboten shorts. Ali Latifi is a Kabul-based freelance journalist. He recently wrote about this trend for Playboy, and he told me there's a universality to what he saw in Kabul's many gyms and underground medi spas. ALI LATIFI: I think everything these guys said is, you know, the same things that someone in Doha or Istanbul or Karachi or a San Francisco would say. PARVAZ: While young gym Talibros tend to focus on optimizing their fitness, other young Afghan men are turning to things like hair implants and cosmetic tweakments (ph) like microneedling and Botox. Latifi tells me that it's even surprising to him that the space for some of these things still exists. LATIFI: These gyms, these cafes and restaurants and stores were all things that we thought would go away. PARVAZ: But, he adds, that didn't happen. LATIFI: This time, the people didn't give in. From the very first days, people started to go back out and try and live their lives as much as they could. PARVAZ: There is hope among those who don't want a full return of the Taliban's more restrictive rules that gradual change is possible. I spoke to Obaidullah Baheer about this. He lectures on civil society and democracy at the American University in Afghanistan. OBAIDULLAH BAHEER: We will come to terms with them. We will negotiate a world that we see fit. It's not going to be easy, but the Afghans haven't given up, and there are those within the Taliban that are willing to listen. They're willing to change and improve. PARVAZ: So, he says, not all hope is lost. D. Parvaz, NPR News. (SOUNDBITE OF FREE NATIONALS' "THE RIVINGTON (INSTRUMENTAL)") Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

SCOTT SIMON, HOST: When the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan in 2021, they promised a more progressive form of governing than they had imposed in the 1990s when they placed dictates on virtually all aspects of social life, stretching even to painting house windows black so women living beyond them couldn't be seen from the street. That was then. Is the Taliban taking Afghans back to the '90s now, and are Afghans following? NPR's D. Parvaz went to Kabul to see. D PARVAZ, BYLINE: The return of the Taliban meant the return of many restrictions, like the mandatory hijab, which requires that women cover their faces, as well as limits on how men and women can socialize and so much more. But how those rules are obeyed or even at times enforced looks different now than it did in the '90s. For instance, you see women on TV on all sorts of programming usually wearing a COVID mask instead of full-face coverings. (SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "VICTOR AZMOON") UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Speaking Dari). PARVAZ: This is a game show called "Victor Azmoon," Victor being the energy drink sponsor of the show and azmoon meaning test. The host and contestants are all women. It's a Trivial Pursuit game, pitting two teams against each other. (SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "VICTOR AZMOON") UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Speaking Dari). PARVAZ: Off TV and on the streets, some women wear more casual forms of hijabs, especially in Kabul, which is less conservative than, say, Kandahar. It's normal to see them moving through the city without male guardianship. For example, I saw one woman walking alone through central Kabul. Her robe, or chapan, was shorter than typical, and with her ankles showing, she walked with this great unhurried confidence in a pair of flame-red flats. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Speaking Dari). PARVAZ: "As much as I can, I will go without a mask. As much as I can, I will have a voice. And I like to be seen," says one woman I spoke to who requested that we not name her, fearing retribution from the Taliban. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Speaking Dari). PARVAZ: She says, "all of these are acts of resistance that without a doubt will one day lead to change." All of these behaviors are risky because the Taliban's virtue and vice patrols periodically do sweeps, cracking down on those who flout the laws. One of the earliest targets was beauty salons. In 2023, the Taliban ordered the closure of around 3,000 salons in Kabul and 12,000 nationwide because they said the businesses were un-Islamic. So now salons operate underground. They still advertise online, although their addresses are hidden. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR: (Speaking Dari). (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) PARVAZ: This ad shows the face of a woman in full-glam makeup, blue contact lenses and all. She is covering the lower portion of her face with a manicured hand. The line, which sounds like it's from a movie, basically says, when you have eyes like that, why would you need a sword to kill? I spoke to a beautician in Kabul about how things are going for her. She didn't want to be named, fearing being targeted by the Taliban. UNIDENTIFIED BEAUTICIAN: (Speaking Dari). PARVAZ: She's running a clandestine salon from her home, she says, and the Taliban are constantly threatening to shut down all such businesses. UNIDENTIFIED BEAUTICIAN: (Speaking Dari). PARVAZ: She says working like this is very dangerous and that she has to sneak clients in and out without attracting attention. Still, it's clear the Taliban know the salons are out there and operating, and it sort of shows the duality at play in Afghanistan. For instance, movie theaters have been shut down, but you can watch movies on TV on channels from Iran, Pakistan or even India. And dating isn't allowed, but it certainly happens and often in the open. There are some restrictions for men too. They aren't allowed to have certain Western haircuts, like fades or wear tight shirts or shorts that show their knees. And some of this butts up against something Afghan men seem to be struggling with the same as men here, the notions of masculinity, which means that looksmaxxing is starting to be a thing there. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) PARVAZ: That's just one of many Instagram posts showing young Afghan men flexing at the gym, mussing up their hair or showing off their jaw lines. Men, including members of the Taliban, are spending more time in gyms. Supplements and steroids are becoming popular, and posters advertising gyms show headless bodies with bare, veiny, muscular torsos clad in tiny verboten shorts. Ali Latifi is a Kabul-based freelance journalist. He recently wrote about this trend for Playboy, and he told me there's a universality to what he saw in Kabul's many gyms and underground medi spas. ALI LATIFI: I think everything these guys said is, you know, the same things that someone in Doha or Istanbul or Karachi or a San Francisco would say. PARVAZ: While young gym Talibros tend to focus on optimizing their fitness, other young Afghan men are turning to things like hair implants and cosmetic tweakments (ph) like microneedling and Botox. Latifi tells me that it's even surprising to him that the space for some of these things still exists. LATIFI: These gyms, these cafes and restaurants and stores were all things that we thought would go away. PARVAZ: But, he adds, that didn't happen. LATIFI: This time, the people didn't give in. From the very first days, people started to go back out and try and live their lives as much as they could. PARVAZ: There is hope among those who don't want a full return of the Taliban's more restrictive rules that gradual change is possible. I spoke to Obaidullah Baheer about this. He lectures on civil society and democracy at the American University in Afghanistan. OBAIDULLAH BAHEER: We will come to terms with them. We will negotiate a world that we see fit. It's not going to be easy, but the Afghans haven't given up, and there are those within the Taliban that are willing to listen. They're willing to change and improve. PARVAZ: So, he says, not all hope is lost. D. Parvaz, NPR News. (SOUNDBITE OF FREE NATIONALS' "THE RIVINGTON (INSTRUMENTAL)") Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

When the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan in 2021, they promised a more progressive form of governing than they had imposed in the 1990s when they placed dictates on virtually all aspects of social life, stretching even to painting house windows black so women living beyond them couldn't be seen from the street. That was then. Is the Taliban taking Afghans back to the '90s now, and are Afghans following? NPR's D. Parvaz went to Kabul to see. D PARVAZ, BYLINE: The return of the Taliban meant the return of many restrictions, like the mandatory hijab, which requires that women cover their faces, as well as limits on how men and women can socialize and so much more. But how those rules are obeyed or even at times enforced looks different now than it did in the '90s. For instance, you see women on TV on all sorts of programming usually wearing a COVID mask instead of full-face coverings. (SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "VICTOR AZMOON") UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Speaking Dari). PARVAZ: This is a game show called "Victor Azmoon," Victor being the energy drink sponsor of the show and azmoon meaning test. The host and contestants are all women. It's a Trivial Pursuit game, pitting two teams against each other. (SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "VICTOR AZMOON") UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Speaking Dari). PARVAZ: Off TV and on the streets, some women wear more casual forms of hijabs, especially in Kabul, which is less conservative than, say, Kandahar. It's normal to see them moving through the city without male guardianship. For example, I saw one woman walking alone through central Kabul. Her robe, or chapan, was shorter than typical, and with her ankles showing, she walked