Photo of women in skirts, without headcovers not from Afghanistan

The photo of women in short skirts reading while sitting on a bench claimed it to be from 1970s Afghanistan, but an AFP fact-checking exercise found the image to be from Tehran University.

A photo of women in short skirts and pants reading while sitting on a bench in an open area has surfaced on social media claiming it to be from 1970s Afghanistan. However, a fact-checking exercise by international news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) found the image to be from an Iranian history book, captioned as 'Tehran university students in 1971'.

Concerns have risen over basic human rights of women following the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban. (AFP photo)

"#Afghanistan in the past 1970 #Afghanistan #Taliban," read a tweet posted on August 17 that has since been retweeted multiple times.

An AFP report said the photo of the young women was shared earlier with similar claims on countries like Thailand, South Korea, Spain and Hungary. A reverse image search on Google found the same photo published in a foreign policy article from February 6, 2012, titled, "Once Upon a Time in Tehran", it further said.

The photo is captioned, "Tehran University students lounge in 1971. Tehran University was opened to women in 1934 when the college was founded. After the revolution, women were still allowed to attend university -- but they now sit in segregated areas." Iran is another Islamic nation where rights of women are restricted.

The photo has emerged in the wake of rising concerns over women’s rights in Afghanistan following the return of the Taliban, who had once imposed extremely regressive rules that hurt basic human rights of girls and women.

None of the young women in the photo have their head covered, a must under the last Taliban regime that was ousted by US-backed forces 20 years ago. Women had to wear a burqa, covering from head to toe, while going out of the house, mandatorily accompanied by a male relative.

Some of the other draconian practices of the Islamic militant group during 1996-2001 regime that have reignited major concerns across the world are stoning to death of girls and women, ban on their education and work that might lead to their coming in contact with other men. Reports and images of panic-gripped citizens taking desperate measures to leave the country that will now be ruled by the insurgent group have flooded the internet.

While the Taliban, in its new avatar, have promised "positively different" regime, "committed to letting women work in accordance with the principles of Islam", without offering specifics, fears remain high.

A number of countries, including the US and UK, have also issued a joint statement saying they would closely monitor how any future government in Afghanistan was ensuring the rights that became an integral part of women and girls over the past 20 years.