The stereotypical Afghan woman is still very much alive and struggling to survive, every single, often painful, step of the way towards what increasingly looks like a return to a hefty measure of Talibanisation. That, frankly speaking, will make very little difference for rural women at all, although city women, especially those who have, in recent years, carved out a measure of freedom, could be badly affected.
The general consensus among Afghan men is, and this may come as something of a shock to some, that despite numerous reports to the contrary, the Taliban are way ahead on the road leading to grabbing a major share of Afghan parliamentary affairs and general control come the next elections. That are due towards the end of 2014 and coincide with the supposed withdrawal of the Isaf, Nato and other foreign forces of occupation.
It is debatable now whether or not the elections will actually happen on schedule or, even more worrying, if they will happen at all, as some highly placed parliamentarians are whispering of constitutional rewrites or total abandonment of the same. That would enable President Hamid Karzai to maintain his role of pliable figurehead and which, if this comes to pass, would be liable to result in a return to civil war with a very angry Taliban going on the rampage.
They may very well do this anyway if the foreign forces do actually leave although such a leaving, a complete one, is - irrespective of the current highly publicised departure campaign - highly unlikely to happen with the ongoing transformation of what were previously temporary barracks into permanent ones being an undeniable giveaway. No one suddenly decides to spend billions of dollars on such new constructions, extremely heavily fortified ones, if they seriously intend to pack up and move on. But this is exactly what is happening in the Isaf bases, such as Camp Eger on the outskirts of Kabul, plus in Bagram and Helmand bases too.
“The Taliban are on their way back and this is good news for Afghanistan,” says an influential business man in Kabul, who, for obvious reasons, prefers not to be named. “Karzai and all of his cronies are corrupt to the core and are responsible for the deteriorating situation all across the country. The Taliban have learnt much since they were last in power here and it will be very different when they make their welcome return. When they ruled, corruption was limited, the laws were enforced and the situation was largely peaceful so business was also good. Not like now. They had three major bad points before: number one was to insist that all men had to have beards, number two was their attitude towards women and number three was forcing people to go to the mosque. But they have really learnt from their past mistakes and this time things will be easier - especially as far as women are concerned.”
This businessman is far from being alone in his view. Many others agree and are simply waiting for the day when the Taliban arrive, victoriously, back into Kabul to “save the nation from Karzai’s and his favoured warlords mess.” But whilst rural women may - or may not - be aware of what is in the air, city women certainly are.
“All that I and my friends and college classmates want is to get out of Afghanistan as fast as we possibly can,” says Meera, an attractive young lady of 19. “We enjoy going out together, all dressed up, to eat in restaurants, browse in Malls and go window shopping along Shara-e-Nau and we all have careers in mind. We want to be able to get on in life. To enjoy our life and work and also to have fun like women in other countries do,” she says.
Meera is dressed in the height of Kabul fashion in platform shoes with very high heels, skin-tight trousers, a very fitted jacket over a glitzy t-shirt, a flimsy, brightly coloured scarf draped over a large knot of hair on the back of her head and wears far more makeup than is usual in other countries, but which is very much in Kabulian vogue. Her friends, Robina and Ayesha, are dressed very much the same and all three are not quite as oblivious to the staring eyes of men as they pretend. They are just like young women of the same age everywhere and are full of the joys of life.
“I rebelled against my family when I was 14,” says Ayesha. “It is customary with my people, I am Hazara, for girls to get married as soon as they reach puberty and I was engaged to a cousin when I was just 13. I was supposed to be married on my 14th birthday, but I refused. I told my parents that getting an education was more important than getting married and having endless children. At first, for a long time actually, they and the rest of our family and relatives were very angry with me, but I stuck with my decision. Now, all these years later, they have learnt to be proud of my education and my ambitions. I am studying business management and my dream is to have a business of my own. But if, as people say, the Taliban are coming back, I and all other progressive minded women need to get out of Afghanistan fast.”
    The writer is author of The Gun Tree:  One Woman’s War (Oxford University Press, 2001) and lives in Bhurban.