In Kabul, a new ritual: Hungry women wait for bread outside bakeries

Women in burkas sit outside a bakery in Kabul. Impoverished women from hilltop slums around Kabul have been flocking to bakeries in the city, silently waiting to see if someone will purchase bread for them. (Diaa Hadid/NPR)

In the late afternoons in Kabul, a familiar ritual takes place as Afghans head to bakeries to buy fresh flat loaves for dinner.

But since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan last August, another ritual has emerged: Women in blue burqas settle in front of the city's upscale bakeries, silently waiting for charitable passersby to purchase bread for them.