Afghan women fear living under Taliban regime

With the Taliban growing stronger and expanding their territory, women in Afghanistan are voicing fears for their freedom and safety, in a report by British broadcaster Sky News.

Among wounded patients in a hospital is a 13-year-old girl who needs shrapnel removed from her body.

When she heals, she will return to a life in a country where her survival is not guaranteed, as coalition troops withdraw..

Not even her doctors are safe, they say.

Many who had worked with American troops now fear they are being left to face the Taliban alone.

The Taliban claims it has changed it views on women and female education, but many women are reluctant to believe that.

Human rights activist Fatima, using a fake name to protect her safety, says she fears for the lives of her young children after she received messages on her phone from the Taliban.

"I feel extremely abandoned," she said. "They will not leave me alive."

Sky News journalists were given rare access to film inside a women's shelter, where men are not permitted to enter, to hear from women who escaped forced marriages, rape and beatings.

One woman said that life will only get worse if the Taliban is in charge.

Elsewhere in Afghanistan some young women have come to know more liberties, even self defense survival skills.

They say they are well aware they risk facing danger every time they leave their homes to learn. Many had survived blasts near their schools.

In a women-run cafe, some customers say they don't want to wear a head scarf.

"If Taliban come, I have to wear a scarf and it's awful for me."

Next door, a woman wearing shorts is getting her eyeliner done in a women-run salon.

These women's lives and businesses could be the first to be banned under a stronger Taliban regime.