Afghan influencers go dark on social media as Taliban return
Prominent influencers have gone dark or fled, while residents and activists are scrambling to scrub their digital lives following the return of the hardline Islamist group that sent a shockwave through Afghanistan's social media.
Otieno Cynthia 
The Social media of Sadiqa Madadgar just as for any other young Afghan influencer looked good until Taliban militants stormed into Kabul and upended her dreams.
A former contestant on the reality singing competition "Afghan Star", Madadgar amassed a huge following with her stunning vocals and down-to-earth, girl next door persona.
A devout Muslim who wears a headscarf, she spent her days uploading videos that transfixed Afghan youngsters, winning her 21,200 subscribers on YouTube and 182,000 followers on Instagram.
In one video, she giggles as she struggles to cut open a watermelon. On another, the 22-year-old is singing a haunting folk tune in a cafe while a friend plays guitar.
On a recent trip to the city of Kandahar -- the Taliban's spiritual birthplace -- she filmed herself sharing a pizza with girlfriends.
On Saturday, Madadgar posted her first overtly political post on Instagram.
"I don't like to express my pain online but I'm sick of this," she wrote. "My heart is in pieces when I look at the soil, my homeland which is being destroyed slowly before my eyes."
The following day, Taliban militants seized Kabul, and Madadgar stopped posting.
- 'No longer safe' -
illions of Afghan youngsters -- in particular women and religious minorities -- fear that what they once put online could now put their lives in danger.
Few can forget the first time the Taliban imposed their ultra-conservative version of Islamic law on Afghanistan between 1996-2001.
