parlor at the moment. and all the signs which showed women in their dresses have been whitewashed over. wow. that s a dramatic symbol of the changes that are arriving there in kabul. listen, thanks so much for talking to us, ben farmer in kabul, appreciate it. and now i want to turn to cnn international diplomatic editor nick rat robertson live islamabad. the resistance in the panjshir valley, the taliban say they control it, the resistance says it s still in their hands. what s the latest on the resistance movement there? reporter: the fighting continues. the resistance movement is making clear that they re not going to budge. the taliban have released videos that show that they ve taken some of the strategic heights around the valley. this is a valley that the soviets couldn t conquer. this is a valley that the when they were in the country in the 1980s that the taliban back
dozen women. they are significant. the women are very brave for doing this. the taliban have been very dismissive and very hostile toward women s rights activists in the past. the women have been saying in these protests that they demand a say in government, and they demand a say in their lives. and they ve also asked for representation when the taliban do actually form their government. the the the taliban who have been at the scene of these protests have looked on as if unsure what to do at first. then they have moved in, and they ve used some violence and some force to move these women on. they are taking a great risk. i think their message is both to the taliban but also as much to the wider world hoping that these protests get picked up, and they re hoping the world does not forget there are still women inside afghanistan
campaigning for their rights. yeah. absolutely. in the meantime, people are trying to adjust to the new normal there. i know access to cash has been hard. there have been food price hikes and shortages. i saw, though, a key money exchange market just reopened today. so what s the situation now there for most afghans? reporter: people are finding if difficult. i ve been driving road the city and there are look queues at banks. there are strict rules on how much you can withdraw from banks. it s $200 per week at the moment. and a lot of people are struggling. a lot of people are on the government payroll, whether they re in the security forces or education or health. and these people, the government employees have not been paid for two months. it s not just the taliban that didn t pay them, but in the last stages of the former afghan government they weren t being paid either. so a lot of people are struggling. other aspects of life already
the taliban is they have to find an end to it. if they don t, have valley holds out again, this will affect the warlords who will come back and join a nascent resistance to spread to other areas of afghanistan. this is very important for the taliban to negotiate or win the battle. well, since you re in pakistan right now, let s turn there now. the head of pakistan s intelligence agency is in kabul, according to our reporting. many in the west are hoping that pakistan can play the role of mediator. i saw the uk foreign secretary was just in pakistan talking about that. what more can you tell us? reporter: yeah, general hamid has gone to kabul. he s the most senior ranking pakistani official to visit since the taliban took control, has taken with him a number of
seem to be changing under the taliban. i saw for instance that they took a popular soap opera off the air. tell us how afghans are getting their news, their entertainment, how that has changed and will likely change further in the weeks to come. reporter: it s changing subtly, but there s definitely a change in the cultural landscape. the news channels often see as some of the great achievement of the past still broadcasting, but the radio channels and a lot of the tv networks, they re starting to cut back on the amount of music they play and the different sorts of different programs that they show. much less entertainment, and what they re showing is more modest. we re also seeing things lightning murals being painted. efforts being painted over sorry, advertisement being painted over. i m sitting outside a beauty