A pop-up restaurant in Kabul is run by women for women. The Taliban is watching

Afghan women are waiting to order food in the Banowan-e-Afghan restaurant in Kabul. The name means "Afghan ladies" (men can order carryout). It's providing jobs for women and a welcoming space to eat — although there are concerns about the Taliban's reaction. (Nava Jamshidi)

By the side of a busy road in Northwestern Kabul, the savory smell of bolani, traditional vegetable-stuffed flatbread, wafts out of a cloth-walled, temporary building.

Inside, a woman in a hijab and a white apron is starting to clean up the balloons, ribbons and empty plates strewn across tables. She is a server at this rarest of Afghan businesses: a dine-in restaurant for women, called Banowan-e-Afghan (Dari for "Afghan ladies"). The restaurant is run by women, for women: While men can order takeout, only female customers are allowed inside.