Photos by @erintrieb This holiday season, while I spend time with family and friends, going outside to enjoy the freedoms I’ve been gifted simply because of where I was born, my thoughts turn toward the women of Afghanistan. Last week the Taliban instituted a total ban on the education of girls and women by forbidding them from attending elementary school and universities. Since seizing control of the country in August 2021, the Taliban also has limited their freedom by implementing new laws and restrictions: Women in Afghanistan are forbidden to travel more than 48 miles outside their home without a “mahram,” or a male relative or guardian. They cannot enter government buildings, see a doctor, or take a taxi without being accompanied by a male guardian. In November they were banned from public parks. Most can no longer work at jobs outside the home. Grief-stricken over the loss of their civil rights and personal freedoms, many women are now retreating inside their homes, returning to a way of life reminiscent of Taliban rule in the 1990s. Pictured here: An Afghan Wakhi woman crouches in reflection at her home in the Wakhan, Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan, 2018. For more stories on women in Afghanistan follow @erintrieb.