On Sunday, 300 Afghan women wearing full-face veils sat in rows at a Kabul university lecture theatre Saturday, pledging commitment to the Taliban’s hardline policies on gender segregation.
A handful wore blue burqas, which have only a small mesh window to see from, but most wore black niqabs covering most of the face apart from the eyes.
The women covered head-to-toe in accordance with strict new dress policies for education.
Women's rights in Afghanistan were sharply curtailed under the Taliban's 1996-2001 rule, but since returning to power last month they have claimed they will implement a less extreme rule.
This time, women will be allowed to attend university as long as classes are segregated by sex or at least divided by a curtain, the Taliban's education authority has said.
They must also wear an abaya robe and niqab.
"We want equal rights, we want women in government," dozens of female protesters chanted as they marched down a street in Kabul.
At the same time, many Afghan women go online posting pics of their traditional customs.
They use Twitter to spread the knowledge about Afghan culture:
"These are traditional afghan clothes, not the demonic outfits the Taliban is desperately trying to impose."
"This type of stitching runs through a few generations of the women in my family. You’d see the fabric in bright green and blue, with henna visible on every fingertip. Our traditions were our foundation. This is Afghan culture."
"This is our Afghan authentic dress. Afghan women wear such colorful and modest attires. The black burqa never has been part of the Afghan culture."
