Undercover journalist in Afghanistan finds Taliban are abducting, imprisoning women

A girl sits in front of a bakery in the crowd with Afghan women waiting to receive bread in Kabul on Jan. 31, 2022. (Ali Khara/Reuters)

In August 2021, shortly after the Taliban took over Afghanistan, spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid held a press conference in which he vowed that the insurgents would defend women's rights according to Islamic law. Filmmaker Ramita Navai says it was an empty promise.

"[The Taliban] knew that the world was watching, is watching, and that women's rights for the world is a litmus test of their governance and how they approach human rights," Navai says of Mujahid's press conference. "Of course, it didn't take very long for the world to realize that they weren't as reform-minded as they were making out."