TALIBAN forces opened fire with pepper spray to disperse women protesting for the right to work and education at Kabul University yesterday.

Around 20 had gathered chanting “equality and justice” and held aloft a banner reading “women’s rights, human rights,” when the Islamists arrived in several vehicles.

“My right eye started to hurt,” one of the protesters told AFP after the incident. “I told one of them shame on you and then he pointed his gun at me.”

The Taliban came back to power in Afghanistan in August after the US left the country in a humiliating defeat after 20 years of war and occupation.

It has since banned unauthorised protests and frequently breaks up demonstrations demanding rights for women.

The Islamists were quick to reimpose severe restrictions on women’s right to work and to education with the burqa — which provides full-body covering — also returning.

Last week a group known as the Spontaneous Movement of Afghanistan’s Warrior Women, which was formed when Kabul fell to the Taliban, issued an urgent appeal for support.

They have organised at least 43 protests for women’s rights but have been targeted because of their actions.

“We ask for your help for our evacuation from Afghanistan to a safe place,” it said in a letter.