The Taliban appear to be up to their old ways when it comes to their treatment of women and girls in Afghanistan. The Wall Street Journal spoke with a female doctor, who said a Taliban gunman dragged her out of a taxi “and whipped her for filming the chaos surrounding the evacuations at the Kabul airport through her window.” She said she “cried the whole way home.”

The Taliban has been on a PR campaign to convince the public their treatment of women is changing. During a news conference earlier this week, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said, “The Islamic Emirate is committed to the rights of women within the framework of Shariah. We would like to assure the international community that there’s not going to be any discrimination against women, but of course within the framework that we have. Our women are Muslim.”

The key there is “within the framework of Shariah,” clearly that means women don’t have the same rights as men and will continue to face oppression. The WSJ continues, “in some areas of Afghanistan that fell last week, the Taliban quickly imposed restrictions on women, banning them from leaving the house without a male relative and forcing them to wear burqas. Some commanders demanded families hand over unmarried women to marry their fighters.”

There are reports women aren’t just being taken for forced marriages, but also for resisting the Taliban. The Times of India cites local sources who say “Taliban fighters have taken Salima Mazari, one of the only three women governors of Afghanistan, into their custody.” She had been speaking out against the Taliban until she went silent a few days ago. Here is what she said last week: “There will be no place for women. In the provinces controlled by the Taliban, no women exist there anymore, not even in the cities. They are all imprisoned in their homes.”

While the Taliban has said it’s safe for women to return to work, there are signs that doesn’t apply to all women. The New York Times says an anchorwoman on state TV, Khadija Amin, said that “the Taliban had suspended her, and other women employees, indefinitely.” Amin said:

“I am a journalist and I am not allowed to work. What will I do next? The next generation will have nothing, everything we have achieved for 20 years will be gone. The Taliban is the Taliban. They have not changed.”

Girls were not allowed to go to school under previous Taliban rules and there are mixed signs on whether that will continue. While some younger girls have returned to school, there are also reports about college-aged women being prevented from going to class. The NYT writes:

In Herat, in western Afghanistan, Taliban gunmen guarded the university’s gates and prevented female students and instructors from entering the campus on Tuesday, witnesses said.

In the southern city of Kandahar, women’s health care clinics were shut down, a resident said. 

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is signaling that the treatment of women is something they are closely monitoring, but no word on how they will intervene.

On Wednesday, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi weighed in:

“It is critical that the United States and the international community come together to protect the people of Afghanistan, especially the women and girls who are at the greatest risk,” Pelosi said in a press release. “The Taliban must know that the world is watching and will not tolerate its brutal treatment of women and girls.”

There are some women risking their lives to protest the treatment of women in Afghanistan. Watch above from PBS.