"To be honest, I feel like I'm living a nightmare. It's hard to comprehend what we've been through in the last two years," Maryam Marof Arwin, 29, told DW over the phone.
Arwin, who lives in Kabul, founded an NGO called Afghanistan Women and Children Strengthen Welfare Organization, but it was seized by the Taliban two years ago — on August 15, 2021 — as they captured the Afghan capital and ousted the government of then-President Ashraf Ghani.
As US and NATO forces withdrew from the conflict-ravaged country following two decades of war, fighters from the Islamic fundamentalist group made lightning advances, conquering the entire nation in a matter of weeks.
Despite initial promises to respect women's rights under Sharia, or Islamic law, the Taliban have since imposed draconian restrictions on women and girls. Most of them are barred from participating in public life, educational institutions and the labor market.
Women's freedom of movement has also been severely restricted.