Adverts of women wearing wedding dresses have been painted over in Kabul after Taliban insurgents entered Afghanistan's capital?on August 15.
In pictures and videos surfacing from Kabul, a man can be seen using a roller and white paint to cover up the large images outside a building. The photo was shared by Lotfullah Najafizada, the head of the Afghan news outlet Tolonews TV.
Afghans who remember the Taliban’s brutal rule and those who have lived in areas controlled by the Islamic militants in recent years have watched with growing fear as the insurgents have overrun most of the country while international forces withdraw.
Government offices, shops and schools are still shuttered in areas recently captured by the Taliban, with many residents either lying low or fleeing to the capital, Kabul.
But already there are indications of a return to the harsh version of Islamic rule Afghans lived under from 1996 until 2001, when the US drove the Taliban from power after the 9/11 attacks.
Many fear the Taliban will roll back two decades of gains by women and ethnic minorities while restricting the work of journalists and NGO workers.
An entire generation of Afghans was raised in hopes of building a modern, democratic State — dreams that seem to have melted away before the Taliban’s relentless advance.
Videos show young men racing home to change out of their jeans and tee-shirts and into the traditional salwar-kamiz outfit.
Some women in Kabul started buying burqas that cover their entire bodies, including their faces, as the Taliban approached the city.
Shops, government offices and schools remain closed in cities seized by the Taliban in recent days, with residents staying indoors or fleeing to Kabul because of security fears.?