Life In Kabul Gets Back To Normal

Kabul residents are gradually getting back to normal life. Local radio has resumed the broadcasting of music and songs which were prohibited by the Taliban movement five years ago, while small shops in Kabul streets have started selling audio cassettes. After many years, Kabul locals heard a female voice on air. It was Jamiliya Mujaheed who told the listeners about the latest news. In particular, the radio has broadcasted the statement of the city's new authorities that women could work. In addition, it was declared that female schools would be opened in the near future. Like in Mazar-e-Sharif, the Afghan town which was seized from the Taliban on Friday, Kabul's hairdressers are being stormed by large queues of Afghan men who want to have their beards cut off, making barbers recall their half-forgotten craft. Afghan women now go out without coats on. The Taliban regime made it obligatory for women to wear coats covering their body up to the neck. The Kuwaiti Al-Qabas daily reports that some women were brave enough to go out without "shador" - a shawl hiding the face. According to the Saudi Asharq al-Awsat daily, when fleeing from Kabul, the Taliban soldiers looted the Shara Shah-zade market in central Kabul, taking millions of dollars, computers, carpets. The newspaper reports that looters took even kettles. According to the daily, many Kabul residents took to the streets of Kabul to greet the soldiers of the anti-Taliban coalition, crying: "Down with the Taliban, hail the Alliance!"