Images appear to show militants riding swan-themed vessels on the water at Band-e Amir National Park - once a hotspot for international travellers and domestic tourists - in central Afghanistan yesterday.
The park contains a series of six deep blue lakes situated in the Hindu Kush mountains, roughly 45 miles from Bamiyan - formerly home to the Buddhas of Bamiyan, which the Taliban demolished in 2001.
One month after overtaking the country's capital Kabul, Afghanistan's new Taliban rulers, who set up a ministry for the 'propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice' in the building that once housed the Women's Affairs Ministry, are now facing protests over the treatment of women and girls.
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Female employees in the Kabul city government have been instructed to stay home, with work only allowed for those who cannot be replaced by men, the interim mayor of Afghanistan's capital announced, detailing the latest restrictions on women by the new Taliban rulers.
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The decision is yet another sign that the Taliban, who overran Kabul last month, are enforcing their harsh interpretation of Islam despite initial promises by some that they would be tolerant and inclusive.
On Saturday the Taliban excluded girls from returning to secondary school but ordered boys and male teachers back to the classroom, again breaking their promise to bring about a less severe brand of rule than their 1990s predecessors.
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Some Afghan women are now protesting the return to repression, with boys also refusing to attend class in solidarity. One boy was pictured in a Twitter post holding a sign that says: 'We don't go to school without our sisters'.
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Afghans voiced their support for the child in the post's replies, with one civilian declaring: 'Education is the right of every Afghan. We hope that the Taliban will allow our sisters to open schools as well.'
Secondary schools, typically teaching teenage pupils and often segregated by sex in Afghanistan, had to close repeatedly during the coronavirus pandemic and have remained closed since the Taliban took over.
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Primary schools have reopened, with boys and girls mostly attending separate classes and some female teachers returning to work, and the regime has also allowed women to attend private universities - but with harsh restrictions on their clothing and movement.
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In Kabul on Friday, workers raised a sign for the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice at the old Women's Affairs building in the capital.
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Videos posted to social media showed female ministry workers protesting outside after losing their jobs.
Officials in the new ministry said they had not been informed whether a new women's ministry was being planned.
The United Nations has reported that it is 'deeply worried' for the future of girls' schooling in Afghanistan.
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