New Delhi: Women in Afghanistan were brutally repressed under Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001. Now it has been more than 10 years since the end of Taliban rule but women and girls are still jailed for running away from domestic violence or forced marriages.
Last year a report by Human Rights Watch revealed that women in Afghanistan are jailed for fleeing abusive husbands, being raped or being forced into prostitution.
But women's lives in Afghanistan were very different before the Taliban took over the nation.
Under Taliban rule, women were not allowed to be in direct contact with males other than a close “blood relative”, husband, and were forced to wear burqas and there were severe restrictions on freedom of movement.
Pictures by Mohammad Humayon Qayoumi show they women here were once able to study, wear skirts and mix freely with men.
Mohammad Humayon Qayoumi, who was born in Kabul in Afghanistan, and went on to become an engineering professor at San Jose State University, wrote a photo-essay book called Once Upon A Time in Afghanistan that documented how life before the Taliban used to be very different for women.
Here are pictures which show how free were women in Afghanistan before Taliban rule:
