Women demand education, work

About two dozen Afghan women chanting "bread, work, freedom" protested in the capital yesterday against the Taliban's harsh restrictions on their rights.

Since seizing power in August, the Taliban have rolled back the marginal gains made by women during the two decades of US intervention in Afghanistan.

"Education is my right! Reopen schools!" chanted the protesters, many of them wearing face-covering veils, as they gathered in front of the ministry of education.

Demonstrators marched for a few hundred metres before ending the rally as authorities deployed Taliban fighters in plain clothes, an AFP correspondent reported.

Tens of thousands of girls have been shut out of secondary schools, while women have been barred from returning to many government jobs. Women have also been banned from travelling alone.

This month, the country's supreme leader and Taliban chief Hibatullah Akhundzada said women should generally stay at home. They were ordered to conceal themselves completely, including their faces, should they need to go out.

The Taliban have also banned protests calling for women's rights and dismissed calls by the United Nations to reverse their restrictions.