Another time, a group of women began to burn burqas during a protest. All women present there including Amiri became targets of the Taliban, she said.
Amiri wasn't at that protest but she still went into hiding because she knew that the Taliban would be hunting down any and all-female protesters who had challenged their authority.
She spent days in hiding but, she was right.
Eventually, the Taliban stormed a safe house where she was living and then arrested her. She was detained and questioned for more than two weeks and was only released after her family agreed to confiscate her house and jail her brother if she protested again. Amiri has since fled to Pakistan but still worries she'd be captured and returned to Afghanistan.
"Fear is everywhere and being a refugee in such circumstances is difficult," she said.
Talks between women activists and the Taliban are ineffective
Activist Hoda Khamoosh was invited to a conference organized by the Norwegian government in January to talk to the Taliban.
"Our objective was to maintain the role of women in the society and not allow the Taliban to erase women like before. Also, so we could find a way to let them know that yes, previously you whopped women and forced to stay at home but now we are not afraid of your whip or your power. We are the women that are self-aware and wouldn't allow you to take away our rights," Khamoosh told Insider.
At the conference, she said she asked the international community why they weren't visiting and witnessing what was happening under the Taliban rule.
"When I spoke against them in Oslo, the same day they went and attacked my family, my husband, fortunately, wasn't home, but my father-in-law and mother-in-law was beaten up and they were forced to give guarantees that I wouldn't speak against them."
She decided not to return to Kabul and sought refuge in Oslo, where she's continued her activism and has been raising awareness about the current situation in Afghanistan. But she still feels scared and these days she conducts most of her meetings online to avoid physical threats.
She's also doubtful of the international community's efforts to keep women who speak up against the Taliban safe.
"We faced a lot of problems after our meetings with the UN — although there are plenty of qualified women who could have done the translations during our meetings, they had a man from ICI from Pakistan to do the translation," Khamoosh said.
She added that the translator got the contact information of everyone who spoke to the UN and all of those women had serious issues after they left.
International communities should be more proactive in stopping the Taliban
All three women who spoke to Insider said while they've been accused of fighting against Islam and religious virtues, their goals are to reinstate women's rights, including work and education, in the country. And despite the personal risks and harms, they all told Insider the women-led protests benefited their cause.
"We could let the world hear women's voices in Afghanistan and made them notice that women of Afghanistan are not having any sorts of rights," Amiri said.
Women's activism in the country has completely changed their lives ever since the Taliban took over, facing intimidation, threats, and violence. They've had to stop public displays of disapproval and two of them even had to flee Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, despite initially saying their new rise to power would be less repressive to women, the Taliban has turned back the clock on women's rights in Afghanistan. They've since ordered all women in Afghanistan to cover their faces, and banned girls from secondary school.
At one point, a Taliban official even joked about keeping "naughty women" at home.
As a result, none of the women believe talks with the Taliban will lead to any change.
"The Taliban were imposed on people because the international community was convinced that once they take power, they will share power and the same way they could be ousted as well," Khamoosh said.
She added that foreign countries and international groups could do more than hold diplomatic talks.
"If the international community wants to help alleviate poverty and provide work for people so they don't die of hunger, work with the relevant local organizations that are there instead of talking to the Taliban," Khamoosh said.
