As the Taliban sweeps across Afghanistan in its bid to oust the US-backed government, reports are emerging of women in newly captured territory being forced to marry fighters, publicly flogged and forced to stay at home.

The insurgents’ advance has fuelled concern of a return to the Taliban’s 1996-2001 rule, when women could not work, girls were not allowed to attend school and women had to cover their faces and be accompanied by a male relative outside their homes.

Fawzia Koofi, one of the few women involved in peace negotiations who was shot in the arm by the Taliban last year, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation what she is hearing on the ground and how she sees the future of women’s rights in Afghanistan.

What’s happening in Taliban-controlled areas?

In some provinces, cities are completely shut down except a few shops. In some provinces, they don’t allow women to go to out without a male companion. I’m also receiving reports of women and girls being forced to marry.

Taliban fighters, unlike their political officers, are unfortunately behaving the same way they did when they were in power.

I receive calls from women at even at four in the morning from provinces that have fallen in the hands of Taliban, asking me difficult questions about what is going to happen or demanding transfer to a safer place.

We want the international community to help transfer them to safer areas or provide them with some level of protection.

Read the full article about the Taliban threatening women's freedoms at Eco-Business.