INTERNATIONAL: Dozens of Afghan women have staged a protest in Kabul on Tuesday, demanding their rights under the Taliban rule. The women have marched down the streets, chanting "Why have you closed schools?" and "We want work, food and education".

The protest has followed a new Taliban decree on women's rights, issued by the Ministry of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice on Sunday, that dictates women travelling for more than 72kilometres should be accompanied by a male family member.

"The Taliban say 'do not enter any car without a man', where can we get a man? What about widows who don't have a man? Where can they find a man? This is not the proper way," said one protester. "We are not women of 20 years ago, we are educated women and will not keep silent under the Islamic Emirate, or the Taliban regime."

During its previous rule from 1996 to 2001, the Taliban have banned women from leaving the house without a male relative and full face and head covering and girls from receiving education, and have severely limited employment opportunities for women.

The Taliban say they have changed and are working on getting more girls back to school after allowing high schools for girls in some provinces to open. But many women and rights advocates remain skeptical. The Taliban has been under pressure from the international community, who have mostly frozen funds for Afghanistan, to commit to upholding women's rights since the hardline Islamist group took over the country on August 15.