糖心传媒

When the Taliban seized Afghanistan, public prosecutor Roya fled for her life - 18 months and 11 countries later she arrived in the United States believing she had finally found safety.

But now Roya is terrified she may be forced back to Afghanistan after the Trump administration announced it would end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Afghans, leaving them at risk of deportation.

Afghanistan's draconian new "morality law", which bans women from speaking in public, could force them out of the media and silence those offering hope to girls already shut out of schools and studying at home, journalists and U.N. experts say.

Women presenters and journalists - many with families who depend on their earnings - fear they could lose their jobs after Taliban leaders said women's voices were "intimate" and could lead to vice.

With a microphone and mobile phone in hand, Husna loved hitting the streets of Kabul every week to interview people for her YouTube videos. That excitement has turned to fear after the Taliban banned women from speaking in public.

The Taliban last month formally codified a host of , which includes requirements for women to veil themselves from head to toe in public and a prohibition on speaking outside of their homes.

Every morning after breakfast, Afghan teenager Prina Muradi turns on the television - not to watch films or cartoons, but to study maths, science and literature.

Muradi, 16, has not been to school since 2021 when the Taliban seized the country and barred girls from secondary education.

When Afghan cyclists Yulduz and Fariba Hashimi used to train on the dusty roads at home, men would hurl stones and insults, but their years of hard graft have now paid off, winning the sisters a place at the Paris Olympics.

The Hashimi siblings are the first cyclists - male or female - to represent Afghanistan at the Games.

But taking part is about far more than chasing medals.

Her living room is a far cry from the bustling, brightly lit film sets she once loved, but Setaish Hayat says making YouTube videos at home is the next best thing in Afghanistan where Taliban edicts have increasingly confined women indoors.

Hayat, 21, was a budding actor in local film and television until the Taliban seized power in 2021 and began issuing decrees on women that included banning TV dramas with female actors and ordering women to wear strict hijab while presenting the news. 

Days after the Taliban administration in Afghanistan announced in July that within a month, videos on social media showed groups of women protesting on the streets in Kabul, as well as in their homes, with many holding signs that read: "Bread, justice, work".

Since taking over Kabul on Aug. 15, 2021, the Taliban administration has barred girls and women from high schools, colleges, universities and most jobs, including working for the United Nations and non-government organisations.

In her long career as an Afghan judge, Sara helped lock up scores of Taliban militants for deadly attacks, ranging from bomb blasts to assassinations - now freed from jail, they have vowed to hunt her down.

"When the Taliban seized power, they opened the prison gates. I've lived every day since then in panic and fear," Sara told Context from a secret location where she lives with her children and husband.

Sadaf was at work last year at the attorney general's office in suburban Kabul when her sister rang with news that the Taliban had entered the Afghan capital, and begged her to race home.

"Cover your face! And don't tell anyone where you work," her sister said, her voice shaking with fear.