Lida, whose name has been changed for her safety, was a policewoman when the Taliban captured her in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, September 27, 2021. Her mother burned all her documents, and she removed her uniform and burned it the day of the fall of Kabul.

Kabul Syndrome

Women forced into submission by the Taliban are beginning to identify with their captors, even when forbidden from looking out the window

By Lynne O'Donnell

In the three-plus years since the Taliban returned to power, women in Afghanistan have come through the various stages of grief to arrive at the point where many long-term hostages find themselves.

“They believe now the Taliban are good for them, that they are kept safe, that the best thing for them is to be locked in their homes, that everything is for their own good,” Batool Haidari, an Afghan psychologist, said. “The only way to describe what the women are suffering is Stockholm syndrome.”