Twelve brave Afghan women and policemen at Kabul airport have returned to work manning checkpoints alongside Taliban security for the first time since the group seized power, officers said on Sunday.
Less than a month after the Taliban rolled into the Afghan capital, Rabia Jamal made a tough decision to brave the hardliners and return to work at the airport.
With the Islamists saying women should stay at home for their own security the risks were all too clear, but the 35-year-old mother of three felt she had little choice.
Of the more than 80 women working at the airport before Kabul fell to the Taliban on August 15, just 12 have returned to their jobs.
But they are among very few women in the capital allowed to return to work, as the Taliban have told most women that they must remain at home.
It comes as hundreds of pro-Taliban Afghan women attended a lecture at Kabul university on Saturday wearing full-face veils in support of the new regime's hardline policies on gender segregation.
'I need money to support my family,' said Rabia, wearing a navy-blue suit and make-up.
'I felt tension at home. I felt very bad. Now I feel better.'
Six of the women airport workers were standing at the main entrance on Saturday, chatting and laughing while waiting to scan and search female passengers taking a domestic flight.
Rabia's sister, 49-year-old Qudsiya Jamal, told AFP the Taliban takeover had 'shocked' her.
'I was very afraid,' said the mother of five, who is also her family's sole provider.
'My family was scared for me -- they told me not to go back -- but I am happy now, relaxed. no problems so far.'
Women's rights in Afghanistan were sharply curtailed under the Taliban's 1996-2001 rule, but since returning to power the group claims they will be less extreme.
Similarly , police force abandoned their posts, fearful of what the incoming group would do.
But two officers said they had returned to work on Saturday after receiving calls from Afghan Taliban commanders.
On Sunday, an AFP correspondent at the airport saw border police members deployed at several checkpoints outside the main buildings of the airport, including the domestic terminal.
“I came back to work yesterday more than two weeks after being sent home,” one of the police force members told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“I received a call from a senior Taliban commander who asked me to come back,” another officer said.
“Yesterday was great, so happy to serve again.”
The Taliban say they have granted a general amnesty to everyone who worked for the former government — including the army, police and other security branches.
Officials say they want to integrate the opposing forces, but have not spelled out how this will happen or how they will sustain a security apparatus made up of around 600,000 people.
Kabul airport was severely damaged during the chaotic evacuation of over 120,000 people that ended with the withdrawal of United States forces on Aug 30.
The Taliban, who swept into Kabul after routing government forces on August 15, have been scrambling to get the capital's airport operating again with Qatari technical assistance.
The United Arab Emirates has set up an air bridge to deliver tons of aid to Afghanistan, with aircraft bringing in hundreds of tonnes of medical and food supplies.
An airport employee who handles security for a private company confirmed that the border police had been deployed around the airport since Saturday.
“They are sharing the security with the Taliban,” he told AFP.
Qatar Airways has operated charter flights out of Kabul in recent days, carrying mostly foreigners and Afghans who missed being taken out during the evacuation.
