Afghan Women: Journey Out of Darkness

Feb. 28 -- It was in 1996 that we first met the five women who risked their lives to speak out against the Taliban. Shortly after the Taliban came to power — hanging the deposed president and warning women to wear their veils, obey men and stay at home or risk death — these women defiantly told us they would not be stopped.

They came out from under their veils in front of our cameras to tell of their sorrows, begging the Western world to do something to save them.

"We're fearful," said Massouda, a secretary, who was joined by Masshed, an engineer, Mouslama, a receptionist, Malalay, a cleaning lady, and Fatima, a pediatrician.

Fatima, who was forbidden to see patients under the Taliban, even took me to her home, hiding me under a burqa so I could tape with a small video camera through my veil. There she showed me the photos she hid from the Taliban under carpets, and the beautiful green dress she wore on her wedding day — it was stashed away just in case some day there would be music and dancing again.

Their city had once been among the most progressive in the Near East. The capital, Kabul, had been a cosmopolitan center, where men and women intermingled freely and women were prominent doctors, educators and government workers.

But the women I spoke to were at the mercy of Taliban enforcers, fearing for their lives in a country that was in shambles. As the women were leaving, one of them made a final request of me: Massouda asked me to tell the world that "our veils conceal our tears." With that, they walked away and we dared not try to reach them again, putting them at even greater risk.

Since then, we have wondered and worried about the women we had met: Had they survived? How much had they suffered? Five and a half years later, what scars did they — and thousands of other women — carry from the Taliban years?

Freedom, But New Problems

The post-war Afghanistan that I visited a few weeks ago was a very different country than what I had seen during my first trip. In the wake of American bombs, women now have freedom. They shop unaccompanied by men, and with sanctions lifted, food is plentiful in the markets. For the first time in six years, there was music, and even television (if the power went on at 5 p.m.).