While the Taliban has struck a new tone, it has shown little appetite for political freedoms. And a gulf between the pledges of its spokesmen and the actions of fighters on the ground has been on stark display.

In areas under Taliban rule late last year, public beatings and executions remained routine — and women were largely absent from public life. Some provinces in Taliban territory lacked even a single school for girls.

Early Tuesday, Friba, who asked to be identified by her first name out of fear for her safety, stopped sending messages to The Post, saying she had been advised to scrub her phone of English communications in case fighters seized it.

One Afghan women’s rights activist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity over safety concerns, said she and others who had been encouraged by the United States to speak their minds were now in danger. “We were the ones who raised our voices for years,” she said.