Your first comment is true. Still, people had freedom when the Soviets arrived, there are similar pictures from around that time. Most of my relatives lived during that time (primarily in Herat). Female relatives did not wear a hijab etc., they wore skirts, they were pretty classy. They were dressed like American women at that time. So, women had more rights, people went to universities, and so forth. It wasn't perfect, but it was better than how it is now.

"I hardly think that the wearing of the abaya, and niqab can be attributed to the USA!"

I'm not sure.

["Between 1994 and 1996 the USA supported the Taliban politically through its allies Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, essentially because Washington viewed the Taliban as anti-Iranian, anti-Shia and pro-Western....Between 1995 and 1997 US support was even more driven because of its backing for the Unocal project."

In a tribute to former CIA director Bill Casey, some Washington bureaucrats blindly identified with the Taliban "as messianic do-gooders -- like born-again Christians from the American Bible Belt," Rashid wrote. "There was not a word of criticism after the Taliban captured Herat in 1995 and threw out thousands of girls from schools. In fact, the USA, along with Pakistan's ISI, considered Herat's fall as a help to Unocal and tigtening the noose around Iran."

Was the US actively sponsoring the Taliban or just acting as cheerleader? John K. Cooley wrote in 1999 what most careful observers knew at the time to be true: "Pakistan's ISI and Saudi Arabia, the former with arms and logistical support, the latter with its seemingly inexhaustible supply of money which flowed during and since the CIA's jihad against Russia, supported the Taliban advance. Many regional observers believed the US did too."]

A short snippet from Afghanistan's Untold Story by Fitzgerald and Gould

Its history is very complex as I've found, but what is clear to me is that with the arrival of the Taliban, things changed drastically and for the worse.

History records that Soviet Afghanistan precedes introduction of troops following multiple requests by Najibullah. 1972 is certainly in that era.

I neglected to comment on full face cover. And I suppose this question can be seen to fall within the fault of the USA, to a great degree. If you consider that fundamentalist guerrillas succeeded due to US training and financial support, then one must conclude that the ascension of the Taliban was caused by the USA. We know that previous governments were secular.
As an aside, the burka or other full face covers are only seen in a few Muslim nations, and only in Saudi Arabia is it universal. Iran requires head scarves. I believe in all other Muslim nations, head adornments are uncommon, or never seen.