I'll go even a step further. From 1996 to 2001 when the Taliban had control, we saw already that under sharia law LGBTQ+ persons often faced severe attacks by the Taliban. During the period of the conflict, there was an easing of those direct persecution acts and there was a small civil society that was able to function.
Again, in the report that we participated in with OutRight Action International and Human Rights Watch, many people reported an easing and the ability to live quietly, still in a country that criminalizes same-sex intimacy, but without being actively targeted.
Immediately after the takeover by the Taliban, there was sharp shift. The sense of pervasive lawlessness that presided in Afghanistan has meant that individuals were subject to raids, and if you were not dressed in traditional Afghan wear, you were often targeted further. Anyone who was perceived to be a member of the community was subject to beatings. Usually they would be targeted through beatings and then told that the attackers would return to harm them further. That's when most people fled. People were being turned over by family members, community members and former sexual partners. There was a really pervasive sense of violence towards the community.