But more than a dozen women and girls interviewed in Kabul said they worry that these havens might be short-lived. Many say they have to hide their Instagram and Facebook profiles from their families or that they self-censor their posts for fear of being discovered by the Taliban government.

The Taliban would be hard-pressed to ban social media platforms outright, and adopting Chinese-style controls over the internet would be expensive. Though the regime has banned TikTok for “un-Islamic content,” the Taliban is itself a heavy user of platforms such as YouTube and X, and government officials communicate via WhatsApp.

Finding a safe space

When the Taliban captured Kabul in August 2021, Efat, then 18, had just graduated from high school and been accepted into the psychology department at Kabul University. Her family wanted to flee the country but was deterred by the chaos at Kabul’s airport.

In the years since, she said, the internet has been a lifeline for her. Efat starts most of her days with fitness routines, watching workout videos on YouTube. During the day, she browses the internet, chats with former classmates and sells her paintings — she has made $200 so far — on an Instagram page she manages with her sister.

With women banned from public parks, Efat primarily finds inspiration for her paintings online. Her latest work shows a tiger. “Women can be just as powerful as them,” she said.

“Without the internet, we’d all be shells of ourselves,” she said. “Half of my life now happens online.”

Many girls use the internet late in the evening and at night, when their friends are also online. When there is nobody to chat with, some turn to artificial intelligence.

Standing in a dimly lit basement shopping mall where she sells women’s clothing, Sediqa, 23, said her new best friend is Gipi, a messaging bot that acts like a friend or language tutor. During long hours spent alone behind her shop counter, Sediqa often turns to the AI bot to chat. “It’s like a friend that’s always there for you,” she said. Another benefit, she said, is that her AI friend never makes fun of her.

Earning and learning online

Eager to boost their household finances, some women have turned to cryptocurrency apps. Heela, 27, said she became a daily user of a crypto mining app after colleagues at work encouraged her.

Every 24 hours, she presses a button on an application called Pi Network and then lets her phone engage in crypto mining in the background for the rest of the day. (This process adds online transactions to a digital ledger called a blockchain and can create value.) The application is popular in Afghanistan because it works on ordinary mobile phones and is free, apart from the cost of the electricity it consumes.

But Pi Network’s monetary value is unproven because its currency, Pi, is not officially listed on major exchanges, where it could be traded for other cryptocurrencies or sold for U.S. dollars. Heela said she has yet to make money with it.

Sadia, 27, earns money by selling dresses online. But she said she increasingly struggles to find models who let themselves be photographed. When she posts photos of models wearing her dresses, the online criticism is often immediate. In an apparent warning that she is being watched, she said, male critics add her WhatsApp account to groups that promote how to become a devout Muslim.

Digital businesses such as art sales and delivery services are largely tolerated by the government. The number of female-run online businesses in the country remains limited. While the United Nations Development Program says that efforts to expand digital payment systems show early signs of promise, their use is still rare. 

Most of the women and girls interviewed in Kabul said they had signed up for at least one online education course since the Taliban took power.

Twice a week, Faryal, 22, sits in front of her smartphone and connects to the digital classroom where she teaches two courses, on media rights and criminal law, to dozens of female Afghan students. Such online classes are held on Google Meet and run by Afghan volunteers, often living abroad.

Faryal says the courses are an escape from boredom and resignation. “But there’s something about eye contact that’s difficult to replace,” she said.

The Taliban government has not explicitly banned online educational courses and could struggle to enforce such an order, given that many providers are headquartered abroad. But teachers and students worry that they might still be at risk.

Sajia, 23, who takes an English course online, said half of her class recently dropped out over concerns of a crackdown. “I don’t think they’ll return,” said Sajia, who decided to continue participating. “It’s so sad.”

Fears for the future

The government has signaled it plans to step up scrutiny of internet use. Anyone who buys a SIM card for a cellphone can no longer remain anonymous and must provide an identity card and the contact details of five family members.

Anayatullah Alokozay, spokesman for the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, said efforts to gather more data on Afghan internet users are meant to prevent abuse and fraud. But the changes to SIM card purchases have triggered widespread concerns about government surveillance.

Aria, 20, said she worries about the day the Taliban cracks down on online activity. “If the Taliban restricts the internet, we won’t have a choice but to flee for good.”

Lutfullah Qasimyar in Islamabad, Pakistan, contributed to this report.