<p>This paper examines the preferences of former female civil servants in Afghanistan toward the country’s future under Taliban rule. After the Taliban’s takeover in August 2021, women’s roles in government significantly declined, and many were forced to leave their jobs or even the country. Surprisingly, however, our earlier survey of former female civil servants found that about half of the respondents expressed a willingness to work for the government again due to economic difficulties. Building upon this unexpected finding, we conducted a follow-up survey involving a conjoint experiment with 156 former female civil servants. The survey assessed how they balance competing priorities, such as job availability, women’s rights, corruption, and the regime. Major findings include: (1) all four factors influenced respondents’ preferences; (2) the regime was the most important factor, with respondents showing preferences against the current regime; and (3) economic opportunities were as important as women’s rights. These results underscore the importance of economic conditions and also suggest that the situation regarding women and female civil servants can be more complex than how outsiders might see the current state of Afghanistan.</p>