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TheGlobe and Mail reports that Afghani women are being forced from their professions by advancing Taliban troops pushing out the government forces from the country. According to the report, nine women were summarily ordered to leave their positions in a Kandahar bank in the middle of the workday; armed militants escorted them out, saying that they could send male relatives to take their place but that they must not return to their jobs.

A short while later, a similar scene occurred in the city of Herat. Militants entered the bank during working hours and began reprimanding women for having their faces uncovered; the female employees quit, announcing their intent to send male relatives to take their place.

Neither the banks in question nor Taliban representatives have responded to requests for comment on the incidents.

The Afghan government has condemned the incidents and called for global support, saying that "The Taliban will regress freedom at every level. The world must see that this is what our forces are fighting for and help us."

Numerous Afghani women have taken to social media since the Taliban renewed its offensives, expressing their outrage over the renewed attacks on women's rights. One woman named Rada Akhbar commented "With every city collapsing, human bodies collapse, dreams collapse, history, and future collapse, art and culture collapse, life and beauty collapse, our world collapse. Someone, please stop this.”