Aghanistan's Ministry of Virtue and Vices

"Women are banned from all walks of life. And, now, not only are girls deprived of education, but boys' rights are being violated because they're not learning the skills and knowledge that will prepare them for the workforce, for tomorrow."

"They should be raised with all the dreams and desires in their heart. If I find any chance, I want to do something for them."

"I won't stop talking about them."

Najia Haneefi, Afghan refugee in Canada

"People are facing extrajudicial killings, detention, calls for banishment. The Taliban keeps releasing decrees that replace laws."

"Women can' go to university, school, work, travel alone, be on the TV or radio."

"They're confined to their homes."

Razia Sayad, human rights advocate, PhD student of law and legal studies, Afghan refugee in Canada

"There was no reliable mechanism to which women victims of domestic violence could turn. Courts and prosecution units that were previously responsible for investigating and adjudicating cases of gender-based violence remained shut. The Taliban authorities and community-level dispute resolution mechanisms both punished women for reporting domestic violence."

"Institutions designed to support human rights were severely limited or shut down completely. Peaceful protesters faced arbitrary arrests, torture and enforced disappearance."

"The Taliban conducted extrajudicial executions, arbitrary arrests, torture and unlawful detention of perceived opponents with impunity, creating an atmosphere of fear."

Amnesty International report

Women weave wool at traditional carpet factory/AP

When the United States and its allies left Afghanistan in 2021 and all troops were withdrawn, the Taliban returned to power, taking up where they left off after the U.S.-led invasion that led to the country being freed of Taliban oppression when al-Qaeda and the Taliban fled to the mountainous region between Afghanistan and Pakistan. With the return of the rule of the fundamentalist Islamist Taliban, sharia law was enforced, the previous justice system scrapped.

 

Repression of the population, and revenge meted out to those within the society who collaborated with the foreign presence, setting Kabul up to govern like a democracy, and introducing Western concepts of gender equality and justice saw women's place return to that of male possessions with no rights of their own. Girls in Afghanistan are now permitted to attend school up to Grade 6 only, banned from a secondary education and university attendance. Women may no longer serve as teachers to boys. 

 

Sewing workshop in Kabul/AP

 

Afghanistan has become a gender-apartheid country. Gender-segregation laws lock women out of social, political and economic life. Women are discouraged from working outside the home. And when outside the home they are expected to be accompanied by a male family member.The country's Ministry of Women's Affairs was disbanded and replaced with the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice which "issues restrictive and abusive decrees on women's and girls' rights".

A strict dress code is enforced, one that requires women to have chaperones in public and which bans women and girls from public parks, public baths and other sites among restricted public venues. Women who protested against restrictions were faced with "unlawful detention and violence".  According to a 2024 report from the United Nations, Afghan women's access to public life, particularly targeted to single women and those without male guardians, have been further restricted. Single women have been restricted in some provinces from accessing  health-care facilities.

Bus terminals are regularly visited by morality police where drivers are forbidden from permitting unchaperoned women to board buses. Girls and young women face forced marriages and sexual assault, leading them to attempt suicide when shunned by their families for being 'unclean'.  Internet services, available to those who can afford them, offer an opportunity to girls to help educate themselves once they can no longer attend school. A more recent decree banned women's beauty salons.

 

Medica Mondiale

"Girls in Afghanistan have been banned from secondary school and women from tertiary education. Women and girls have been banned from entering amusement parks, public baths, gyms and sports clubs for four months. Women have been banned from working in NGO offices. Since the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban in August 2021, women have been wholly excluded from public office and the judiciary. Today, Afghanistan’s women and girls are required to adhere to a strict dress code and are not permitted to travel more than 75 km without a mahram. They are compelled to stay at home."

"All over the country, women report feeling invisible, isolated, suffocated, living in prison like conditions. Many are unable to have their basic needs met without access to employment or aid, including access to medical healthcare and psychological support in particular for victims of violence, including sexual violence. It’s a sobering reminder of how swiftly and aggressively women’s and girls’ rights can be taken away."

United Nations Office of the High Commissioner