Afghanistan: 5 Years in the Dark

Afghanistan has been in a state of darkness for five years, since the fall of Kabul in August 2021. The country's women and girls have been particularly affected, with their rights and freedoms severely restricted by the Taliban's rule. ## A System Built Decree by Decree The Taliban's restrictions on women and girls have been implemented through a series of decrees and directives, which have been issued since the group took power. These restrictions have been designed to shrink the space in which women and girls can learn, work, travel, speak, or simply exist. The United Nations has described this as a "gender apartheid." The dismantling of education was one of the first and most significant restrictions imposed on women and girls. In March 2022, girls were barred from attending school beyond the sixth grade. In December 2022, women were expelled from all public and private universities in the country. In December 2024, the Taliban closed even medical and midwifery institutes, the last remaining professional path open to women. Work has followed a similar trajectory. Women were dismissed from the civil service and told to stay home on reduced salaries. In January of this year, even those payments stopped, and their employment was formally terminated. Women were banned from working for national and international NGOs in December 2022 and for the United Nations itself in April 2023. In July 2023, the Taliban ordered the closure of thousands of beauty salons, one of the last sectors in which women could still earn an income, destroying an estimated 60,000 jobs. These restrictions now define a woman's daily life. She may not travel any long distance without a male guardian. She is banned from parks, gyms, sports facilities, and public bathhouses. Unmarried women have been denied work and healthcare simply for having no husband. The "vice and virtue" law of August 2024 ordered women to cover their faces and declared that a woman's voice should not be heard in public. ## Not Only Women The Taliban's restrictions are not limited to women and girls. Other groups, including the Hazaras, a minority group that makes up about a fifth of the population, have also been targeted. The Hazaras have been subjected to ethnic, religious, and gender-based persecution, with many being forcibly evicted from their homes and communities. The law governing the personal affairs of Shiite Muslims has been revoked, stripping the community of legal protections. Journalists have also been targeted, with nearly half of Afghanistan's media organizations closing and more than two-thirds of its 12,000 journalists leaving the profession. Men who served in the previous government's army and police live in hiding, vulnerable to reprisals, disappearances, and killings. LGBTQ Afghans face criminalization under the vice and virtue law, along with arrest, lashing, and imprisonment. The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants against the Taliban's supreme leader and chief justice, citing the persecution of women, girls, and LGBTQ people as crimes against humanity. ## The Cost of Erasing Half a Country The Taliban's restrictions have had a devastating impact on Afghanistan's economy and society. The country's education system has been severely damaged, with over 2.2 million girls locked out of secondary school. The ban on women's education will cost the country an estimated 2.5 percent of its gross domestic product every year. Only one in four Afghan women is working or seeking work, against nearly 90 percent of men, one of the widest gender gaps in the world. The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan has deepened, with around 21.9 million people, nearly half the population, projected to need assistance this year. The country's aid cuts, drought, and the return of almost 3 million deportees have all contributed to this crisis. The Afghans still inside the country keep asking the same question: "Why me?" The answer is clear: it is not just them. It is the entire country that has been erased from public life, and it is the world that has failed to act.