Dozens of Afghan women hold an annual poetry reading in the capital Kabul, their first since the Taliban came to power and stripped women and girls of their freedoms. Mirman Cultural-Social Association was a rare public event for women sanctioned by Taliban rulers, where poets defiantly talked of the pain of losing their right to work and education and of music being banned. Organisers – too afraid of putting people at risk of being tracked by the hostile new government – drastically slimmed down the event which would usually have attracted huge crowds with women poets from all over the country taking part. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES