Three years after the Taliban returned to power, the situation for women in Afghanistan has become dire. A recent analysis by the *Genocide Watch* website reports that between January 2022 and June 2024, 840 Afghan women and girls experienced gender-based violence, with more than 300 killed.
Researchers warn that these numbers represent only the “tip of the iceberg,” failing to capture the full scale of systemic violence against women. Open-source investigations, social media, and media reports indicate that 332 women were killed following Kabul’s fall in August 2021. More than half of the reported 840 cases of violence were directly perpetrated by Taliban authorities.
The documented abuses include 115 cases of sexual violence, including forced marriage, sexual slavery, and rape; 73 cases of non-sexual torture and abuse; and 113 arrests and beatings of women for defying Taliban’s oppressive policies.
*Genocide Watch* stresses that media restrictions and harassment of journalists mean that the true figures are likely far higher. “What has been documented is only the tip of the iceberg. Accurate reporting on gender-based violence in Afghanistan is becoming increasingly difficult,” the report states.
Over the past three years, the Taliban have imposed what human rights groups describe as a “gender apartheid” on 14 million Afghan women and girls, stripping them of their most basic rights. Women are barred from education, employment, public activities, parks, and gyms, and are subjected to strict mandatory dress codes.
The Taliban have also continued to enforce brutal punishments, including whipping and stoning. Yet, courageous Afghan women have persisted in resistance, staging street and digital protests in Kabul and other major cities.
Research shows that in the early months after the Taliban takeover, 88% of protests were held in public; by 2022, this fell to 49%, and now 94% of demonstrations occur online, as activists’ identities and locations are kept secret due to Taliban repression.
In a recent move, the Taliban passed a law labeling women’s voices as “aurat,” further restricting their lives. Human rights defenders and women activists have condemned this law, warning that it will intensify violence against women.
