Human Rights Situation in Afghanistan Continues to Worsen After Nearly Five Years of Taliban Rule
Author: Tasreba Chowdhury
August 07, 2026
HRRC condemns the human rights abuses occurring in Afghanistan under Taliban rule, especially regarding the erasure of women’s rights and the extreme restrictions on freedom of expression. We urge thorough and transparent investigations into the human rights abuses as outlined in the UN Human Rights Council’s resolution. We call for the immediate end to human rights violations, swift delivery of humanitarian aid, and halting of forced deportations.
Human rights abuses in Afghanistan have continued to increase since the Taliban returned to power nearly five years ago, when Kabul was captured on August 15, 2021. Human Rights Watch (HRW) recently published a timeline of the abuses, ranging from the complete dismantling of women’s rights to severe restrictions on freedom of expression. The country has continued to rank last in Georgetown’s Women, Peace, and Security Index.
Almost immediately after Kabul’s capture, the Taliban worked to heavily restrict free media by monitoring newsrooms, restricting reporting, and detaining reporters, causing news outlets to close and reports to flee the country or stop reporting.
This was shortly followed by the banning of secondary education for girls in March 2022, causing Afghanistan to remain the only country in the world where girls are not allowed to pursue an education beyond the sixth grade. This has been further accompanied by the removal of domestic violence protections, the elimination of a minimum age for legal marriage, and limitations to healthcare access.
The situation in Afghanistan is also being manifested through changes to the education system. Schools and colleges have been converted into madrassas, which aim to teach the Taliban’s ideology to millions of boys. The curriculum emphasizes Hanafi jurisprudence, which defines Muslims as followers and labels other religious groups as heretics based on the criminal procedure code issued on January 4, 2026. Girls are put into female madrassas as their only educational option outside of primary schooling.
These human rights abuses are also exacerbated by a humanitarian crisis, with 40% of the population projected to face food insecurity in 2026, in the context of the United Nations Humanitarian Response Plan being underfunded. This has been intensified by a sharp decline in foreign humanitarian aid. The Trump Administration shut down the United States’ foreign aid program in 2025, which previously provided around 40% of the humanitarian aid the country received, and was the largest donor.
Forced deportations from countries such as Iran, Pakistan, and Germany have resumed despite the risks Afghans face upon return. This has prompted European Union (EU) officials to host a Taliban delegation for the first time in Brussels on June 22, 2026 to discuss deportation issues.
The United Nations Human Rights council adopted a resolution to create an independent body to investigate previous and ongoing abuses on October 6, 2025. There are also plans to work closely with the International Criminal Court (ICC), who have launched multiple investigations into the issue, including an inquiry into war crimes and crimes against humanity in 2020, which received backlash from the United States. HRW has called for foreign countries to support this resolution as well as other accountability efforts.
Glossary
Abuse- an action that intentionally causes harm or injures another person. This can refer to physical abuse, psychological abuse, mental abuse, or child abuse.
Accountability- a situation in which someone is responsible for things that happen and can give a satisfactory reason for them.
Backlash- a strong feeling among a group of people in reaction to a change or recent events in society or politics.
Crimes against humanity- specific crimes committed in the context of a large-scale attack targeting civilians, regardless of their nationality. These crimes include the most egregious violations of human dignity, especially those directed towards civilian populations.
Deportation- formal removal of a person, typically a foreign national, from a country’s territory under that country’s laws.
Delegation- a group of people who have been chosen or elected by a larger group to speak for them, especially at a meeting.
Detain- to hold them in custody, normally for a temporary period of time. Police in the United States, under Supreme Court precedent in Terry v. Ohio, may temporarily detain an individual if there is reasonable suspicion that the individual is armed, engaged in, or about to be engaged in criminal conduct.
Dismantle- to destroy the integrity and functioning of.
Domestic violence- also known as “domestic abuse” or "intimate partner violence", can be defined as a pattern of behavior in any relationship that is used to gain or maintain power and control over an intimate partner.
Food insecurity- household-level economic and social condition of limited or uncertain access to adequate food.
Force- to make something happen or make someone do something difficult, unpleasant, or unusual, especially by threatening or not offering the possibility of choice.
Foreign aid- assistance (such as economic aid) provided by one nation to another.
Freedom of expression- grants individuals the right to publicly hold and convey their thoughts, opinions, and ideas through speech, writing, art, or any other symbolic act. Freedom of expression encompasses the rights to speech, press, religion, and association.
Free media or free press- right to freely publish communications and expressions of opinions through various forms of media.
Hanafi school- in Islam, one of the four Sunni schools of religious law, incorporating the legal opinions of the ancient Iraqi schools of Kūfah.
Heretic- someone who has beliefs that are against the principles of a particular religion.
Humanitarian- involved in or connected with improving people’s lives and reducing suffering.
Ideology- a manner or the content of thinking characteristic of an individual, group, or culture.
Inquiry- an official process to discover the facts about something, especially something bad that has happened.
Jurisprudence- the study of law and the principles on which law is based.
Limitation- the act of controlling and especially reducing something.
Madrassa- a Muslim school, college, or university that is often part of a mosque.
Media- means of mass communication, such as film, television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and the internet.
Minimum- the smallest amount or number allowed or possible.
Primary school- first stage of formal education that provides children with basic literacy, numeracy, and social skills essential for further academic pursuits and personal growth. It plays a crucial role in the right to education, ensuring that all children receive essential skills for future academic success and personal development.
Resolution- an official decision that is made after a group or organization has voted.
Restrict- to limit someone’s actions or movements.
Secondary education- the second stage traditionally found in formal education, beginning about age 11 to 13 and ending usually at age 15 to 18.
Taliban- ultraconservative political and religious faction that emerged in Afghanistan in the mid-1990s following the withdrawal of Soviet troops, the collapse of Afghanistan’s communist regime, and the subsequent breakdown in civil order.
Women, Peace, and Security Index- scores and ranks 181 countries on women’s wellbeing. It uses 13 indicators that span women’s inclusion, justice, and security to generate scores from 0 (worst) to 1 (best).
Women’s rights- the entitlements and freedoms that women should have, including the right to education, which is often contested by cultural practices and norms. These rights encompass the protection against violence, discrimination, and the ability to claim self-determination within their cultures while respecting universal human rights.
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