The rush at the Kabul airport and the strong push to get out was one indicator of people’s anxiety about life under the Taliban. Another was a change in the dress code. Most men were dressed in traditional Pashtun salwar kameez. Hardly anyone wore jeans and T-shirts, which was a common sight a week ago, VOA reported.
The other big change from a week ago was the lack of presence of women. On a normal day in Kabul, one could see a significant number of women in the streets dressed in jeans, long tunics and headscarves and full burqas. Not now. The small group of women in the streets were fully covered in hijabs.
Men with Kalashnikovs roamed the streets of Kabul on foot, in security vehicles and on motorcycles as the insurgents solidified their hold on Afghanistan's capital. They seemed to have taken over the duties of Afghan police and security forces that were hardly visible anymore.
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