Kabul Protest

Security officials shot in the air and used firehoses Wednesday to disperse dozens of Afghan women protesting in Kabul against an order by Taliban authorities to shut down beauty parlours, the latest curb to squeeze them out of public life.

A small group of Afghan women staged a defiant protest in Kabul on Thursday against a Taliban order banning them from universities, an activist said, adding that some were arrested.

Retired employees of the Afghanistan Government on Saturday protested against the Taliban over the issue of non-payment of their pensions in Kabul.

About 30 Afghan women protested in front of Kabul University on Tuesday after authorities expelled students from the dormitories allegedly for breaking rules.

The death countof a suicide bombing on a Kabul classroom has risen to 35, the UN said Saturday, as Shiite Hazara women who bore the brunt of the attack staged a defiant protest against the "genocide" of their minority community.

Dozens of women from Afghanistan's minority Hazara community protested in the capital Saturday after a suicide bombing a day earlier killed 20 people -- mostly young women from the ethnic group.

Taliban fighters fired into the air Saturday to disperse a rare women's protest in the Afghan capital, days ahead of the first anniversary of the hardline Islamists' return to power.

The Taliban have once again resorted to force to disperse female activists protesting in support of women's rights in Kabul, media reports said on Tuesday.

The Taliban struck several journalists to prevent media coverage of a women's rights protest in Kabul on Thursday.

Around 1,000 Taliban supporters attended a rally on Sunday in a vast field to the north of Kabul, in a show of strength as they consolidate their rule of Afghanistan.

The Taliban on Thursday violently cracked down on a small women's rights demonstration, firing shots into the air and pushing back protesters, AFP journalists witnessed.

About two dozen women activists protested outside Afghanistan's women's ministry on Sunday after it was closed by Taliban militants in power in Kabul and replaced by their Ministry for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.

The Taliban have barred female employees from entering the Ministry of Women Affairs in Kabul, allowing only males into the building, an employee of the ministry said.

Afghan youth rights activist Wazhma Sayle says she was shocked to see a photograph online, apparently of women dressed in black all-enveloping niqabs and gowns, staging a demonstration in support of country's new Taliban rulers at Kabul University.

Scores of Afghan women were forced by the Taliban to gather at Kabul University dressed in head-to-toe black robes that they had distributed on the anniversary of 9/11 terrorist attacks. Those who dared to refuse, say students, were to be expelled.

Security officials shot in the air and used firehoses Wednesday to disperse dozens of Afghan women protesting in Kabul against an order by Taliban authorities to shut down beauty parlours, the latest curb to squeeze them out of public life.

A small group of Afghan women staged a defiant protest in Kabul on Thursday against a Taliban order banning them from universities, an activist said, adding that some were arrested.

Retired employees of the Afghanistan Government on Saturday protested against the Taliban over the issue of non-payment of their pensions in Kabul.

About 30 Afghan women protested in front of Kabul University on Tuesday after authorities expelled students from the dormitories allegedly for breaking rules.

The death countof a suicide bombing on a Kabul classroom has risen to 35, the UN said Saturday, as Shiite Hazara women who bore the brunt of the attack staged a defiant protest against the "genocide" of their minority community.

Dozens of women from Afghanistan's minority Hazara community protested in the capital Saturday after a suicide bombing a day earlier killed 20 people -- mostly young women from the ethnic group.

Taliban fighters fired into the air Saturday to disperse a rare women's protest in the Afghan capital, days ahead of the first anniversary of the hardline Islamists' return to power.

The Taliban have once again resorted to force to disperse female activists protesting in support of women's rights in Kabul, media reports said on Tuesday.

The Taliban struck several journalists to prevent media coverage of a women's rights protest in Kabul on Thursday.

Around 1,000 Taliban supporters attended a rally on Sunday in a vast field to the north of Kabul, in a show of strength as they consolidate their rule of Afghanistan.

The Taliban on Thursday violently cracked down on a small women's rights demonstration, firing shots into the air and pushing back protesters, AFP journalists witnessed.

About two dozen women activists protested outside Afghanistan's women's ministry on Sunday after it was closed by Taliban militants in power in Kabul and replaced by their Ministry for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.

The Taliban have barred female employees from entering the Ministry of Women Affairs in Kabul, allowing only males into the building, an employee of the ministry said.

Afghan youth rights activist Wazhma Sayle says she was shocked to see a photograph online, apparently of women dressed in black all-enveloping niqabs and gowns, staging a demonstration in support of country's new Taliban rulers at Kabul University.

Scores of Afghan women were forced by the Taliban to gather at Kabul University dressed in head-to-toe black robes that they had distributed on the anniversary of 9/11 terrorist attacks. Those who dared to refuse, say students, were to be expelled.