Women are not allowed to speak in public and any female from puberty until death may only speak to men who are relatives. Homes in which women reside must have all the windows painted over to obscure view. Health care is virtually nonexistent for women, and journalists report that the girls living in the Kabul orphanage have not been let outside since the edict was issued. Tens of thousands of families are starving. In the city of Kabul alone there are 40,000 widows who can no longer work to support themselves and their families.
Some widows are fortunate enough to have male children who can beg for the family.
Others sit in dark houses praying for humanitarian aid which can only be delivered to them by a male intermediary. Many are eating grass, suffering from skin diseases due to the lack of sunlight and dying due to starvation and untreated illness. The Taliban asserts that the prohibitions for women and girls are religious and protective in nature. Yet it is known that many Taliban break their own rules and send their daughters to school in other countries. The Taliban, which forbids drug use, does collect a 20 percent tax from the opium farmers.