As the protesters' shouts grew louder, several Taliban officials waded into the crowd to ask what they wanted to say.
Taliban special forces in camouflage fired their weapons into the air Saturday, bringing an abrupt and frightening end to the latest protest march in the capital by Afghan women demanding equal rights from the new rulers.

Also on Saturday, the chief of Pakistan's powerful intelligence agency, which has an outsized influence on the Taliban, made a surprise visit to Kabul.

The women's march, the second in as many days in Kabul, began peacefully. Demonstrators laid a wreath outside Afghanistan's Defense Ministry to honor Afghan soldiers who died fighting the Taliban before marching on to the presidential palace.