“How are we supposed to exist?” asks an Afghan activist in Kabul, speaking to The Telegraph on condition of anonymity, her voice barely above a whisper. Under the Taliban’s latest decree, even this conversation could be forbidden.

On Thursday, Taliban Minister of Virtue Khalid Hanafi issued an edict banning women from hearing other women’s voices, creating an absurd reality where basic survival has become nearly impossible for Afghanistan’s female population.

“Even when an adult female prays and another female passes by, she must not pray loudly enough for them to hear,” Khalid Hanafi said.

For the millions of Afghan women who serve as their families’ sole providers, the implications are devastating.

“To buy bread, we must speak. To seek medical care for our children, we must speak. To live, we must speak,” explains a women’s rights activist in Herat, who requested anonymity for safety reasons. “They are not just silencing our voices – they are attempting to erase our existence.”

Since taking power in August 2021, the Taliban have systematically restricted women’s rights in Afghanistan. Women must be accompanied by male guardians in public, cover their faces, and now somehow conduct daily business without allowing their voices to be heard. For those without male relatives, like many widows, the new rule effectively imprisons them in their homes.

Even within Taliban ranks, concerns are emerging about the sustainability of such extreme measures. A senior Taliban official, speaking on condition of anonymity to the Telegraph revealed growing internal discord.

“Someone should stop the supreme leader. Many within the Taliban are angry and worried that, with everything the leadership is doing, we could lose Afghanistan as quickly as we took it,” he said. “They are worried that as soon as an alternative to the Taliban appears, the people will revolt, and the West will bomb us again.”

For now, Afghan women continue their daily struggle to exist in an increasingly impossible environment. As one Kabul resident puts it: “We didn’t commit a crime by being born women. Yet here we are, fighting for the right to simply speak to each other.”