KABUL — The messages poured in as Ramzia Abdekhil inched toward central Kabul in halting traffic.

“One of our groups was arrested.”

Then a call for help: “The Taliban have surrounded us, we are trapped.”

Her back still throbbing from the beating she had received just days before, Abdekhil’s face tensed as she and her sister compared reports from across Kabul on Wednesday. They had planned to join a group gathering at a central roundabout and march against the Taliban’s announcement of an all-male cabinet.

But the militant group had just declared protests illegal the night before and deployed additional fighters to the city’s streets, with orders to arrest violators. The protesters’ plans were quickly unraveling.

“Go home? No, now it’s even more important we speak out,” Abdekhil said, without looking up, texting similar messages of encouragement to the other women in her group. “Our voices are a threat to them. That’s why they said protesting is illegal. But all we want is our rights.”