Lifting the veil: now that the Taliban are out of power in Afghanistan, women, such as this teacher, can shed their blue burqas and enjoy renewed freedoms. (Cover Story).

On the streets of Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, people are seeing something they haven't seen for years: women's smiling faces.

For six years, the Taliban, the Islamic group that ruled Afghanistan, forced women to wear blue burqas, which cover the entire body, with just a small mesh-covered opening over the eyes. The Taliban's strict interpretation of the Koran determined, among other things, that it was a sin for a woman to show her face.

Now that the Taliban have been ousted from power, Afghan women lift their veils and do other things that were once forbidden.

Some women are now wearing high heels and laughing in public. Women are lining up outside office buildings and stores to apply for jobs, and girls are once again going to school

Under the Taliban, a woman …