A recent answer about the history of secularism and Islam mentioned in passing that prewar Afghanistan was quite secular with “relatively high gender equity.” While I realize mid-20th century Kabul was more liberal than it is now, what was life like in terms of religion and women’s rights in pre-war rural Afghanistan?
Not much different than it is now, honestly. I saw that statement and kind of cringed, because it's really only true for the small middle class that had begun to emerge in the 50s and 60s, but not for most of the Afghani population. Even in Kabul, that sort of "freedom" only existed for a small number of elite people.
There was heavy, heavy inequality in Afghanistan which is one of the reasons the monarchy was deposed in the 70s, which facilitated the invasion by the Soviet Union in 1979.
A friend of mine wrote an article about the illusion of gender equity in pre-war Afghanistan, which you may find interesting, as the same illusion exists for Iran: https://ajammc.com/2017/09/06/weaponization-nostalgia-afghan-miniskirts/