Memories of Taliban rule strike fear, uncertainty in Afghan women

Empowered young Afghan women fear a return to a repressive life.

Fatimah is one of millions of women in Afghanistan now living in the shadows, shuttered in their homes out of fears that their futures will be a return to a repressive past. The 28-year-old photographer has known a vibrant, colorful and bold Afghanistan for much of her life. She told "Nightline" that she has spent years going "behind the burqa" to capture the beauty of Afghan women and show the world a more positive, stronger side of them that it "never sees and thinks about." But like many Afghan women after the Taliban's sweeping offensive to reclaim the country, she faces uncertainty and fear that Afghan women will lose the everyday freedoms they've had for the last 20 years, including the ability to go to school or have a job. They fear a reversion to life in the late 1990s under Taliban rule, when they had few rights and violence was rampant. "It's so complicated for now, and we don't know what will be next," Fatimah told "Nightline." To protect her identity, ABC News will only use her first name. "We are just thinking about what we read in history and what we know about [the] Taliban in Afghanistan. ... Now, I'm afraid we're going back 20 years ago. A couple days ago, I was talking to girls and they were concerned they had to wear a burqa again."