In the four years since, the Taliban has effectively erased women from Afghan public life. Last month, the Telegraph reported that, following a 6.6-magnitude earthquake, Afghan women were left to die in the rubble of their homes. Activists now encourage donations to organisations such as the Afghan Girls Financial Assistance Fund and Rescue Afghan Women Now, whose activities include helping women escape the country. The plight of Afghan women under the Taliban underscores the human cost of a regime fixated on control rather than governance. This blackout is another, likely deadly, blow: it is not merely censorship – it is the deliberate severing of Afghan women’s last lifeline to freedom.