The Taliban Continue to Tighten Their Grip on Afghan Women and Girls
USIP has compiled a comprehensive archive of Taliban decrees and public statements on the treatment of women and girls.
Since the Taliban’s August 2021 takeover of Afghanistan, they have ratcheted up restrictions on women and girls as the group consolidates power. These restrictions include limitations on employment, education, public interactions and other fundamental rights such as access to justice. These restrictions have only tightened over time with increasingly draconian enforcement — the latest being public floggings that harken back to the Taliban’s 1990s rule. Amid the U.N.’s 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, USIP has compiled a comprehensive archive of Taliban decrees and public statements on the treatment of women and girls. While leaders and activists around the globe strategize and develop plans to address gender-based violence in their respective countries, Afghanistan stands out as a worst-case example, with two decades of hard-won progress rapidly unwinding.
Erasing Women from Public Life
Examples of the Taliban’s repressive treatment of women abound. Days ago, three women were flogged in a football stadium in Logar province in front of thousands for what the Taliban called “moral crimes.” Similar floggings have been reported in Nuristan, Takhar, Kabul, Laghman and Bamyan provinces. In mid-October, a woman in Ghor province accused of a “moral crime” was scheduled to be stoned, but the night before the sentence was to be carried out, the woman was found dead. Activists speculate that she either committed suicide or was murdered by her family.
One of the few Afghan activists to publicly speak of her experience in Taliban detention for protesting for her rights told of the nightmare she went through — an experience that likely mirrors those of other Afghan women detained by the Taliban. “They tortured me … using cables, pipes and whips … As they were torturing me, they would record it. It was a terrifying experience in that prison," Tamana Paryani said, months after her release and evacuation to Europe.
Women are being erased from public life, effectively imprisoned within their own society by recent decrees that ban women from public parks and gyms, require women’s faces to be covered in public, and limit the number of days they can go shopping (and then only with a male relative). “In no other country have women and girls so rapidly disappeared from all spheres of public life, nor are they as disadvantaged in every aspect of their lives,” wrote Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Afghanistan Richard Bennett in his latest report on the situation in Afghanistan.
U.S. Special Envoy for Afghan Women, Girls and Human Rights Rina Amiri has repeatedly raised alarm about violence against women. “Those who fear a radicalized Afghanistan should be alarmed by the Taliban’s policies against women & girls, denying them education, work in most sectors, even small joys such as the right to go to a park. This extremism will lead to instability, poverty & more population flight,” she tweeted in November.
Afghan activists have consistently called on world leaders to address the dire situation women and girls are facing. “The women of Afghanistan went from existence — from being part of society, from working, from being part of every aspect of life as doctors, judges, nurses, engineers, women running offices — to nothing. Everything they had, even the most basic right to go to high school, was taken away from them,” said Mahbouba Seraj, a 74-year-old women’s rights activist.
After the Talban took over Afghanistan, there was much discussion about whether we would see a reformed Taliban movement that would be more inclusive and more respecting of women’s rights. But only two weeks after Kabul fell, they reinstated their 1990s ban on girls’ secondary education.
Can Pressure Change the Taliban’s Treatment of Women?
International opposition to and opprobrium of the Taliban’s anachronistic policies on women has been nearly universal, particularly in regard to education. A handful of leaders from around the Muslim world have also decried the Taliban’s aberrant interpretations of Shariah concerning girls’ education. This includes the Turkish foreign ministry, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and the Qatari and Indonesian foreign ministers.
Despite the condemnation and isolation from the international community, the Taliban have not changed their posture or policies toward women. Inducing them to do so will require a comprehensive pressure campaign, which could look like this:
- The international community should explicitly link recognition of the Taliban government to its policies and practices related to women, among other things. It is important to note that no country has recognized the Taliban as the legitimate governing authority in Afghanistan, which is worse than in the 1990s when they at least had recognition from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. But the lack of recognition today is largely tied to concerns over security and terrorism. Moving forward, all states should predicate recognition and normalization on the basic respect for women’s fundamental rights as well.
- Political leaders and scholars from around the Muslim world should proactively communicate to the Taliban and the Afghan people what their interpretation of women’s rights under Shariah looks like. For many Afghans and the Taliban, cultural messaging may be even more effective than diplomatic demarches. Demonstrating that women have greater rights in the rest of the Muslim world can help counter the Taliban’s claims that their version of Islam is the only true one. Indeed, Article 6 of OIC’s Cairo Declaration calls on states to “eliminate difficulties that impede … [women’s] full enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms and effective participation in all spheres of life, at all levels.”
- Continue to support Special Rapporteur Bennet’s mission and enhance his investigative mandate. The mandate for the U.N. Special Rapporteur is renewable by the U.N. Human Rights Council on an annual basis. Not only should his term be renewed as long as the human rights situation in Afghanistan remains poor, but he should also be given greater investigative authorities and resources to comprehensively document Taliban policies and practices that violate international human rights agreements.
- Provide financial and moral support to Afghan civil society and women-led organizations who provides services to Afghan women. Afghan women’s rights groups in the country need donor support to survive as their access to employment is effectively cut off. Civil society and leaders of other nations — particularly in Afghanistan’s neighborhood who have friendly relations with the Taliban — should continue to express their support for Afghan women and their fight to reassert their rights. This could include joining campaigns, advocating on their behalf and providing safe spaces and platforms to voice their concerns. Afghan women have long called for their inclusion in decision making at local, national and international levels.
While the international community, particularly the Muslim world, has a vital role to play, the most important and strongest form of pressure will come from inside Afghanistan. Afghan women are their own best advocates but need the support described above. Many traditional male leaders in Afghanistan oppose the Taliban’s policies on women but are afraid to speak up. Giving them a platform on Afghan media and finding subtle ways to empower them in their own communities can help amplify local demands for women’s rights.
Perhaps the most influential sources of change will be from within the Taliban movement itself. Some leading Taliban figures and clerics — including powerful Taliban deputy leader and Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, Taliban co-founder Abdul Ghani Baradar, Minister of Higher Education Abdul Baqi Haqqani and the head of a seminary in Herat, Jalilullah Akhundzada — have called for the ban to be rescinded. The Taliban’s deputy foreign minister, Sher Abas Stanekzai, went so far as to publicly say, “Education is obligatory on both men and women, without any discrimination. None of the religious scholars present here can deny this obligation. No one can offer a justification based on [Islamic] Sharia for opposing [women’s] right to education.”
Despite these Taliban leaders speaking up, the ban on education remains in place. These statements may just be lip service, or, perhaps, they offer an entry point for activists in Afghanistan and from the international community to convince the Taliban to reinstate Afghan women’s fundamental right to education. Either way, the steps detailed above to pressure the Taliban will be vital to persuading them to change their education policies.
Documenting Taliban Policies to Measure Success
No pressure campaign can work without ways to measure its effectiveness. This archive helps to demonstrate the deeply disturbing and concerning trend toward more restrictions on all aspects of women’s lives. Getting these restrictions lifted is the primary and widely held goal. The archive enables these policies to be tracked to see whether the Taliban are fulfilling their ostensible commitments toward a just and inclusive society — and can provide points for focused advocacy and debate.
Text-Only Version
August 2021
August 13: Ordered imams to bring them lists of unmarried women aged 12 to 45 for their fighters to marry.
August 17: Announced amnesty for opposition and former pro-republic officials and urges women to join Taliban’s government.
August 17: Invited women to join government.
August 19: Declared the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan as form of government.
August 20: Carried out house-to-house search looking for journalists and individuals with ties to the republic and Western forces.
August 25: Ordered women to stay indoors at home because soldiers are not trained to respect women.
August 30: Declared ban on co-education and prohibited men from teaching girls.
September 2021:
September 8: Announced a caretaker government.
September 8: Banned protests and slogans that don’t have prior approval from Taliban.
September 12: Banned girls from secondary education.
September 17: Replaced Ministry of Women’s Affairs with Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.
September 20: Ordered professional/working women to stay home until further notice.
September 27: Ordered barbers not to shave men’s beard.
September 28: Indicated they might temporarily implement the 1964 Constitution.
September 29: Women banned from attending and teaching at Kabul University.
November 2021:
November 22:Banned women from television dramas.
November 23: Stormed the Afghan Independent Bar Association.
November 25: Ordered followers of non-Islam religions to follow the Sharia orders and the Hanafi jurisprudence in performing their religious rituals and that senior government employees must be follower of Imam Abu Hanifa. Source: Copy of the order.
December 2021:
December 4: Haibatullah Akhundzada issued a decree about women’s rights, outlined the importance of women’s consent during Nikah, that a woman is not property, but a noble and free human being.
December 26: Banned women from travelling long-distance (72 km/45 miles) road trips without a mahram.
December 26: Banned drivers from playing music in cars and having women passengers without hijab.
December 26: Dissolved election commission, Ministry of Peace and Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.
December 29: Closed public baths for women in Balkh.
December 31: Ordered clothing stores to remove mannequin’s heads.
January 2022:
January 3: Closed public baths for women in Balkh.
January 7: Ordered coffee shop owners in Herat not to serve women if they are not accompanied by a mahram.
In January the Taliban met with representatives of the U.S., France, Britain, Germany, Italy, the European Union and Norway in Oslo to discuss Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis.
February 2022:
Ordered NGOs to replace board members and those in leadership positions with Afghans living inside Afghanistan. Source: Copy of the order.
Ordered universities to enforce gender-segregated classrooms.
Banned women from traveling abroad without a mahram and without a legitimate reason.
Note: In February the Taliban in Geneva signed a document vowing to “facilitate principled humanitarian action in Afghanistan and to ensure the protection of humanitarian workers and aid…”
March 2022:
March 2: Banned women from entering health centers without a mahram.
March 13: Ordered enforcement of segregation of women and men’s offices.
March 17: Announced the reopening of girls’ schools at the start of 1401 (March 2022) school year.
March 18: Banned foreign TV series.
March 24: Announced that schools for girls’ grade 7 and up will remain close.
March 20: Canceled the Nowroz public holiday.
March 27: Banned women from traveling abroad without a mahram and without a legitimate reason.
March 28: Ordered male civil servants to grow beard or risk being fired.
By verbal instruction of Haibatullah, women must not be employed in offices and must not leave home. The order was issued by the Ministry of Interior and signed by Qari Ihsanullah Sohail, Chief of staff of deputy for security affairs. Source: Copy of the edict.
April 2022:
April 6: Dictated different days for men and women to visit parks.
April 22: Banned TikTok and PUBG, insisting they were leading Afghan youths astray.
April 29: Announced three days of week for female and three days for male university students.
May 2022:
May 5: Stopped issuing driving licenses to women.
May 7: Issued order that women are not allowed to use public transport if they are alone.
May 7: Issued recommendation and implementation plan regarding proper hijab, stating the best hijab is for women to wear a burqa or stay home.
May 16: Dissolved the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission.
May 19: Ordered female TV presenters on air to cover their faces.
May 29: Issued order that women are not allowed to use public transport if they are alone.
June 2022:
June 1: Ordered female students in Ghazni in grades 4-6 to cover their faces while commuting to school or face expulsion.
June 2: Banned poppy cultivation through a decree.
June 28: Held an all-male gathering of 4,500 clerics and leaders in Kabul. Claimed men can sufficiently represent the views of female relatives.
July 2022:
July 18: Directed women employees of the Ministry of Finance to send a male relative to take their jobs if they want to be paid their salaries
August 2022:
August 7: Removed Ashura as a religious public holiday.
August 10 Female flight attends are removed from their jobs.
August 16: Made attending religious classes mandatory in universities, adding five new religious subjects to the existing eight.
August 23: Established female moral police department.
August 25: Issued an order banning women from going to parks where park authorities cannot ensure segregation between men and women
August 29: Ordered female university students to cover their faces in classrooms.
September 2022:
September 8: Made attending daily religious classes (offered by the Vice and Virtue agents) mandatory in all government offices. To keep their jobs, they must pass a test.
September 11: Closed secondary and high schools for girls that had briefly opened in Paktia.
September 17: Prohibited the hiring of former government employees of Hajj and Religious Affairs, Supreme Court and Ministry of Education and ordered their termination. Source: Copy of the order.
September 20: Banned female students from taking videos and photos on university campus.
September 26: Ordered media outlets that female TV guests must cover face.
October 2022:
October 6: Expelled hundreds of pubescent female students in Kandahar.
October 7: Blocked women from choosing agriculture, mining, civil engineering, veterinary medicine and journalism as their study major. Taliban said these subjects are too difficult for women.
October 13: Ordered removal of non-Islamic policies in ministries.
October 13: Ordered male teachers and students to sign pledge to observe Sharia in Kandahar.
October 28: Removed women’s seat from Commission of Media Violations.
October 30: Whipped female university students in Badakhshan for wearing jeans under their long coats.
November 2022
November 6: Closed public baths for women in Badghis.
November 10: Banned women and girls from parks and gyms.
November 11: Nineteen people, including nine women were flogged in public 39 times each for adultery, theft, running away from home in Takhar.
November 14: Taliban Supreme Leader reinstate Hudud and Qisas punishments in cases such as robbery, kidnapping and sedition.
November 15: Five men accused of theft and kidnapping received between 30 and 39 lashes in public.
November 17: Taliban flogged a man and a woman in Bamyan.
November 20: Ministry of Haj of Taliban ordered mosques to praise Taliban Supreme Leader and refer to him as “Amir” in Friday prayers.
November 23:
- Three women were among several other people flogged by the Taliban in Logar province in front of thousands of onlookers in a football stadium.
- Taliban also enforced their sharia interpretation on a man and a woman in Laghman by flagging them in public.
November 30: In Samangan, two women and three men were flogged for moral crime.
December 2022
December 1: Taliban flogged 21 people including six women in Kabul.
December 4: Taliban publicly whipped seven people including a woman in Ghor.
December 6: Taliban lashed 5 people accused of extra marital relationship, drinking alcohol and smuggling drugs in Khost.
December 7: First public execution took place in Farah province attended by Supreme Court justices, military personnel and senior ministers - including the justice, foreign and interior ministers.
December 8:
- Taliban’s Supreme Court issued the final rulings that twenty-seven people among them nine women be punished by public flogging for alleged theft, adultery and other crimes. Each person was flogged between 25 and 39 times in Parwan.
- Three women were among 22 people flogged in Jawzjan. Those flogged were suspected of moral crimes, alcohol consumption, sodomy and selling of narcotics.
- Three men accused of theft were given Tazeer punishment in Paktika.
December 14: Ministry of Vice and Virtue issued a letter to the Ministry of Interior Affairs to improve oversight on production firms that produces taranas (songs without music) to ensure they are in line with Islamic values. Copy of order is available.
December 14: Two women and 25 men were publicly flogged in Zabul and Helmand provinces.
December 18:
- Two women and three men accused of moral crimes and theft were flogged in Kapisa.
- Twelve people including one woman accused of moral crimes, drinking alcohol, and theft received between 23 and 35 lashes in public in Ghor.
December 19: Twenty-two men and women accused of adultery, running away from home, sodomy, theft and smuggling narcotics were lashed in the sport stadium in Jawzjan.
December 20:
- Taliban banned female students from public and private universities until further notice.
- One person accused of entering a stranger’s house “with the wrong intention” was lashed 39 times in Maidan Wardak.
- Twelve people accused of moral crimes and theft were flogged in Helmand.
December 22:
- Taliban Ministry of Education banned girls beyond grade 6 from attending private courses.
- Two women were among 23 people flogged in Uruzgan. They were accused of moral crimes, robbery, sodomy, and theft.
- Twenty-one people including four women accused of moral crimes were lashed in public in Badakhshan.
December 24:
- Taliban banned female staff working for I/NGOs.
- Nine people including one woman accused of moral crimes were flogged in Khost. One person accused of theft had his hand chopped off in Laghman.
December 25: Nine people accused of moral crimes and theft were flogged in public in Kunduz.
December 27: Taliban banned women-run bakeries in Kabul.
December 27: Six including two women accused of moral crimes were publicly flogged in Laghman.
December 28 One person accused of selling and purchasing narcotics was punished in public under Tazeer punishment.
December 31 Taliban lashed five people including one woman accused of moral crimes and theft in Paktia.
January 2023
January 1: A letter issued by the Finance department of Balkh province instructed the education department to deduct 18,000 Afs from teachers’ salaries paid by UNICEF and transfer the amount to the government’s revenue account.
January 3: Kabul Education University suspended salaries of two of its professors that resigned to protest the university ban for the female students. Source: Copy of the letter.
January 3: Taliban closed blind girls' schools in Nangarhar and Kunar.
January 10: Taliban appointed the leadership members of Ulema Council of Kabul from among its members.
January 11: Taliban’s Herat Department of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice issued a letter banning women from visiting historic places. Source: Copy of the letter.
January 13: the AGO’s department of guidance and Islamic invitation administered a one hour written test assessing religious knowledge of AGO staff. Source: Copy of the test questions. Note: Employees are required to attend a 2–4-hour daily lecture and training on Islamic teaching.
January 16:
- Taliban instructed travel agencies not to sell tickets to women without mahram.
- Taliban instructed poets not to compose musical proses.
- Taliban instructed elders in Panjshir to hand over list of those that worked in the intelligence agency of the republic and those who worked with the foreign agencies.
January 18: Taliban intelligence instructed Kabul province governor to arrest 13 members of former armed forces officers.
January 21: The ministry of higher education in a letter to institutions of higher education ordered the exclusion of females from university entry exam. Source: Copy of the letter.
January 24: Supreme Court issued a letter to Southwest Intelligence and police citing a report from an independent judicial monitoring committee that had expressed concern about torture of detainees in inmates. Threatening the abusers with dismissal and severe punishment. Source: Copy of the letter.
January 25:
- The ministry of vice and virtue issued a letter to MoPH summarizing the findings of the vice and virtue’s monitoring report, expressing concern that only 5% of health workers have complied with the hijab and physical appearance [beard] requirement. Source: Copy of the letter.
- Ministry of higher education in a letter to Kabul University, instructed female lecturers to sign their time sheets on the last Thursday of the month in a designated location in the north entrance of the campus. Source: Copy of the letter.
- The Taliban verbally informed pharmacies that selling of contraceptives is haram and Islam and therefore, pharmacies must refrain from selling them.
February 2023
February 1:
- Taliban instructed hospitals in Kabul that their medical staff must wear black hijab (Arabic long gown) and mask at all times.
- Taliban verbally instructed female government medical staff to be accompanied by a mahram while going to their offices in Kandahar.
- Taliban closed a Karat-e club in Farah province. It operated in spite of the earlier ban on female sports clubs.
February 2: The district governor of Nasi district of Badakhshan issued a letter prohibiting the inter Suni/Shia marriage. Source: Copy of the letter.
February 17: Tribal elders banned woman from taking a mehria for her marriage. Taliban have banned bride price (toyana) across the country. Mehria is a woman’s right under Islamic rules.
February 18: Taliban conducted the exit exam for only male medical students.
February 22: Taliban closed four medical centers run by female doctors in Ghazni because male patients were treated by female doctors.
February 22: Taliban removed the students and closed a few private education centers because of having female students.
March 2023
March 4: Taliban invalidated thousands of divorce cases that were decided during the republic.
March 6: Taliban instructed institutes of higher education to only admit male students in the forthcoming academic year (academic year started on March 22).
March 10 : Taliban announced gender segregated visit to shrines in Herat.
March 12: Taliban banned issuing transcripts and certificates for female university graduates.
March 13: Small businesses council of Parwan issued a circular to its members that operate beauty salons and instructed them to require their clients to “take an ablution” before they initiate a service. Source: Copy of the decree.
March 15: Taliban ordered restaurants in Takhar not to serve women without mahram.
March 17: Taliban’s Hajj and Religious Affairs ministry declared the celebration of Nowroz as an act against sharia. The ministry instructed mullah imams of mosques throughout the country to inform the public to refrain from celebrating Nowroz, Christmas, Birthdays, Lovers’ Day [Valentine’s Day], Women’s Day and April Fools Day, as these are significant days for Kafirs (infidels). Source: Copy of the directive.
March 20: The Emir issued a decree barring officials from hiring relatives in government positions.
March 25: In Balkh province, the Taliban have segregated banking services based on gender. .
March 25: The Emir issued a verbal decree re-tasking the Attorney General's Office as the “General Directorate for Monitoring and Follow-up of Decrees and Directives.”
March 30: Taliban’s Emir issued an order to courts to re-examine and invalidate legal cases that had been settled by the republic courts and did not comply with Sharia.
April 2023
April 4: The Taliban prevented female Afghan staff of the UN from reporting to work.
April 5: The Taliban’s MPVPV issued an edict banning women from going to restaurants in Herat. Previously they had issued an edict on May 12, 2022 instructing restaurant owners to segregate male and female diners. Source: Copy of the edict.
April 13: The ‘girls’ schools committee’ (headed by Sheikh Mohammad Ayoub Ansari) provided Mullah Haibatullah with lists of proposed school subjects for girls and boys from grade 1 to 12. According to the committee’s recommendation, girls and boys, grades 1-4 will share the same curriculum, but above that girls will be taught special subjects that simply modern and scientific subjects. At the same time girls and boys will receive more intensive religious education. The main religious subjects for girls will focus on recitation of the Quran, ethics, hadith, history of Islam, the prophet’s life, Arabic language, rights of spouse, and children and unacceptable traditions and customs). Source: Copy of the report.
April 19: The Taliban ordered the Shia community in Balkh to celebrate Eid on the day the Taliban’s Supreme Court declared Eid rather than following the announcement from Iran’s religious authority to declare Eid a day later, which Shia traditionally follow.
May 2023
On May 4, in a recorded voice message, the head of the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Kandahar, Mawlawi Abdulhai Omar verbally ordered all the provincial departments to ban girls and women from going to health centers and cemeteries. In his message, Mawlawi Omar claims that “women/girls wear makeup when they go to these places and pretend they are ill. “Anyone whose daughter or sister is like this, if she has a brother, arrest her brother. If she has a father, punish her father and punish him for not correcting her daughter.” Source: audio clip
May 5: Taliban banned young women (usually not married) from going to health centers and shrines in Kandahar province.
May 10: Taliban warned education directorate staff and teachers of Khost to choose between termination and keeping a long beard. Copy of the letter.
May 11: Taliban officials verbally directed media outlets not to produce contents about women hygiene issues.
May 18: Taliban banned “hena bandan” a type of pre-wedding ceremonies in Kandahar province.
May 20: Taliban and local elders imposed ceilings of women and widows dowry in Parwan province.
May 28: Taliban instructed health workers not to carry smart phones while on duty in Helmand province. Copy of the letter.
June 2023
June 1: The Taliban Ministry of Higher Education issued a directive to Kabul University ordering lecturers to avoid the use of certain Dari words in their research and to use the full title of “national and religious” figures.
June 8: Banned foreign NGOs from providing educational programs including Community-Based Education. According to UNICEF, it will impact half a million students, specifically 300 thousand girls.
June 15: Banned grooms from joining his bride in the wedding saloons, The ban extended to filming of wedding ceremonies, serving food at the time of prayer, and having dress changing rooms for women in the wedding halls.
June 17: Banned women from participating in radio and TV shows where the presenters are men.
June 18: Instructed beauty salons to have a facility for its clients to perform a religious ablution before putting on makeup.
June 18: Taliban Ministry of Higher Education is reported to have allowed female university students to defend their monographs and attend exams of final semester online. The rest of the semesters and education affairs of female university students are suspended until further notice.
June 24: Banned all women beauty parlors across the country.
July 2023
July 1: Taliban’s Ministry of Education issued a circular to local and international NGOs stating that according to NGOs law all NGOs are required to open a bank account for each project and that NGOs are not allowed to have more than one project linked to the same bank account. Source: Copy of the letter.
July 6: Taliban’s Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice announced the ban on beauty salons [all run by women for women] because services provided by the salons were forbidden by Islam. Owners of beauty salons were given one month notice to wind down their businesses. Source: Copy of the letter.
July 9: Taliban’s Directorate of Preaching & Propagation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a letter to its representatives in provinces and overseas instructed them to perform daily prayers collectively and to adjust their appearance according to Shariah and the Prophet’s sunnah. Source: Copy of the letter.
July 11: Taliban suspended activities of the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan following the desecration of the Quran in a protest in Stockholm on June 28. Context: On June 28, in a rally in Medborgarplatsen Square in Central Stockholdm an Iraqi migrant, Salwan Momika he tore some pages of the Quran and set it on fire.
July 15: The International Relations Department of the Ministry of Public Health of Taliban issued a letter ordering a full ban on the activities of Premiere Urgence-Aide Medical International (PU-AMI), a French health organization. MoPH did not give a reason for the decision. Source: Copy of the letter.
July 17: Taliban abolished the Attorney General’s Office (AGO). The new institution established to replace AGO is called, Directorate of Supervision and Prosecution of Decrees and Orders which no longer investigates or prosecutes cases directly. That function is taken over by the court and police. Source: Copy of the decree.
August 2023
August 26: Taliban Minister of Vice and Virtue during his visit to Bamiyan announced that women are henceforth not allowed to enter Band-e Amir national park.
September 2023
September: In Helmand, the Department of Information and Culture, through mullahs in mosques, has instructed media outlets not to feature women in their programs without prior approval from the department. Additionally, the department has warned women against using social media platforms such as Facebook, TikTok, X (formerly known as Twitter) and other similar tools. These messages were delivered through mosques on behalf of the governor and the department. Source: Contacts on the ground.
September: In Uruzgan, the governor issued an audio-recorded message banning women from working remotely with Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). Source: Contacts on the ground and copy of the audio message.
September 16: Officials from the Department of Vice and Virtue have issued verbal warnings to clothing store owners in Bamyan to refrain from selling glamorous/party dresses to women. This directive has been reiterated in local mosques as well. Source: Contacts on the ground. Also reported by online media.
September 17: The Taliban’s Ministry of Commerce and Industries suspended the organization of trade exposition events until further notice. Source: Copy of the letter.
October 2023
October: The General Directorate of Intelligence in Helmand issued a directive to Imams and neighborhood representatives (Wakeels and Arbabs), instructing them to compile a detailed list of residents, including copies of their national IDs, full addresses and phone numbers. Imams are further tasked with monitoring individuals participating in the five daily prayers and reporting those who miss prayers for three consecutive days, in accordance with the provided instructions. Source: Contacts on the ground.
October 19: An official letter from the Taliban to government offices, educational centers, and hospitals in Helmand and Paktia announced a ban on the use of smartphones. The directive emphasized that individuals caught using smartphones on the job would face termination. Source: contacts on the ground.
October 20: The Taliban’s Ministry of Economy has instructed NGOs in Kabul that women are not permitted to hold the position of director within an NGO. Source: Contacts on the ground.
October 22: The Kandahar religious police conveyed through a letter to elementary schools and women's madrasas that, moving forward, the only accepted form of hijab is the burqa. Source: Contacts on the ground.
October 25: The Taliban, in Faryab, prohibited private videography/photography firms from hiring female employees to work at wedding ceremonies. Source: Contacts on the ground.
November 2023
November 1: Taliban’s Ministry of Education issued a letter informing provincial authorities of the suspension of all educational projects by SCA, BRAC, IRC. Source: Copy of the letter.
November 11: The Taliban’s Ministry of Public Health in a letter informed the Ministry of Economy that programs related to public awareness, women’s health centers, social behavior, and mental health offered outside of government-run health centers by NGOs are prohibited. Source: Copy of the letter.
On November 15, local Taliban officials verbally directed the organizers of a street book fair in Herat to cover photos featuring human beings on the books. Additionally, in Kabul the Taliban prohibited women artists from exhibiting paintings that depict human faces.
On November 19, the Taliban religious police in Samangan province verbally imposed a ban on photographing and recording videos at weddings. The Taliban attributes this directive to a verbal instruction from the Minister of Vice and Virtue. This prohibition follows a previous restriction where the Taliban had banned women from engaging in photography and video recording in Faryab.
November 22: The religious police of the Taliban in Herat imposed a ban prohibiting male tailors from tailoring women’s clothes. Despite a protest staged by the tailors in response to the ban, the Taliban maintained their decision, which came after months of consecutive restrictions. A few women own and run tailorship in the women’s only market, while majority have home-based tailoring and dress making activities.
In Khost the Taliban have issued warning to social media users that posting political, satirical, or musical content results in punishment.
December 2023
December 3: The Taliban’s public health department in Takhar and Parwan ordered hospitals and health clinics to remove posters containing drawings and pictures of human beings, particularly women. Source: Contacts on the ground
December 5: By the verbal order of Haibatullah, the Taliban’s religious police suspended delivery of nursing and midwifery education to female students in Kandahar. Source: Contacts on the ground.
December 19: The Taliban’s department of economy in Helmand issued a directive to NGOs, stipulating that new local employees must obtain an approval letter from the General Directorate of Intelligence before being offered employment. NGOs are asked to submit the names of existing employees for background check and approval. Source: Copy of the letter.
December 30: The Taliban’s Ministry of Economy issued a letter calling on local and international organizations to refrain from implementing projects focused on peace, conflict resolution, advocacy and public awareness as they are not considered a need. Source: Copy of the letter
January 2024
In Farah, the governor has issued a verbal order making wearing of black color hijab, face mask and gloves mandatory. Source: Contacts on the ground.
In Logar, the religious police made announcements through loudspeakers in mosques and in public stating that women and girls should refrain from wearing white pants, and shoes when going out and that those ignoring the order have no right to complain about the consequences. Source: Contacts on the ground.
In Nangarhar, the vice and virtue authorities issued a directive prohibiting the tradition of singing, dancing, and clapping during wedding processions. Those found engaging in such activities, both women and their mahram will face punishment. Source: Contacts on the ground.
In Paktia, the vice and virtue authorities announced through mosques that women are prohibited from wearing black Arabic hijabs, as they reveal the eyes. Instead, women are mandated to exclusively wear burqa. Source: Contacts on the ground.
February 2024
February 13: The Ministry of Public Health issued a directive to medical institutes of higher education, instructing those that provided education to girls during the winter to cancel the semester. They are to re-teach the same semester at the beginning of the new academic year, as teaching during the winter is only permitted to conduct short term capacity enhancement courses. Source: Copy of the letter.
February 14: Mullah Abdul Haq Waseeq, head of the Taliban’s General Directorate of Intelligence, has directed its units to stop organizations from taking inappropriate photos (mixed male/female) during aid distribution, and during meetings, particularly of women. Violators are instructed to be reported to the directorate for appropriate action. Source: Copy of the letter
February 19: The Ministry of Public Health issued a letter to its provincial departments in 11 provinces, introducing/authorizing a four-member delegation from the Norwegian Church Aid (NCR) including a female doctor (accompanied by her mahram) to conduct entry exams, distribute materials, and register female students for studying nursing and midwifery. Source: Copy of the letter.
February 22: The Taliban in Kandahar have issued directives instructing school principals to prohibit girls aged 10 and above from attending classes below the sixth grade. In the same directive, the Taliban have mandated those girls in grades four to six must wear face coverings during their journey to school.
February 25: The Taliban police chief in Khost, Abdul Rashid Omari, banned women from contacting local radio and television channel citing the potential for spreading immorality. Source: Copy of the letter. Also reported by media.
February: The governors of Kandahar, Helmand and Farah have issued an audio directive barring government employees from conducting video interviews with media outlets, only allowing audio interviews. Source: Contacts on the ground
February 28: The Taliban’s spokesperson for the Ministry of the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, Abdul Ghaffar Farooq, announced that women appearing on television must wear black hijab and with their faces covered only leaving their eyes visible.
March 2024
March 17: The Taliban banned women in six districts of Nangarhar from working at carpet weaving factories.
March 23: The Taliban banned street saleswomen in a market in Jalalabad City of Nangarhar.
March 24: The Taliban leader has mentioned in a speech that the public stoning of women shall be enforced, and the Taliban will not bend to the pressure of the West.
March 31: Taliban closed several female educational centers in Kabul for registering female students beyond 6th grade.
April 2024
This month the Taliban’s Education Department of Kabul Province issued a commitment letter to owners of private schools. Within this letter, they outlined a series of ten points to which the owners/administrators are pledging adherence. One of these points declares, "I confirm my agreement to adhere to the decision to suspend schooling for female students from grades 7 to 12..." Source: Copy of the letter.
This month, the Taliban in Helmand verbally instructed media outlets to refrain from airing women’s voices. Source: Field contacts.
This month the Taliban required all employed women to obtain a work permit from the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. Source: Copy of the announcement.
April 7: The Economic Affairs Commission issued a directive, quoting the Emir, to remove and replace the elected leadership of the chambers of commerce, the association of money changers, Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce (ACCI) with ‘good and righteous individuals. Source: Copy of the order.
Media outlets were verbally instructed to ban women from co-hosting shows with male journalists and refrain from reporting on women’s rights and violence against women. Source: Media contacts.
May 2024
May 26: The religious police in Herat, through verbal instruction, have ordered restaurant owners to prohibit male/female couples from dining unless they can present a marriage certificate.
