Afghan Witness Reports

Their research offers fresh perspectives on key issues and under-reported stories concerning land rights, media freedom, and women’s digital activism in Afghanistan.

On 28 July 2023, clashes erupted in Ghazni province when Taliban forces sought to disperse crowds, resulting in multiple deaths and injuries. Rejecting responsibility, the Taliban instead blamed the violence on "evil elements" in the crowd. AW investigates the events.

Faced with a moral dilemma, an Afghan journalist says he must choose between working for Taliban-approved media, or risking his life to report independently.

Interviews with women in the sector reveal that some organisations have replaced their female directors with men to allow operations to continue, while one president of a women-focused NGO says she is using her personal savings to keep office doors open.

Afghan Witness spoke to a university student, and a professor who resigned after the Taliban’s announcement.

For months, widespread reports of Taliban abuses in the province have surfaced on social media, raising concern among human rights organisations. However, sources say many incidents go unreported.

For over a decade, doctors Sameera and Nadim treated Afghanistan’s drug addicts, despite threats from the local drug mafia who viewed them as disruptors. They allege that their daughter was kidnapped on her way to school one day. After selling everything they owned to pay the ransom, the family fled to Pakistan, but say the threats continue.

Afghan Witness spoke to two women who planned to continue their studies in Qatar and Kyrgyzstan, but say the Taliban prevented them and other female students from boarding a Doha-bound flight. Both women's names have been changed to protect their identities.

Since the Taliban’s return last August, the group has demonstrated determination to regulate, shape, and control access to education in Afghanistan.

Afghan Witness assesses how the Taliban’s return has impacted women’s access to education and employment, their freedom of movement and dress, and their ability to access support services.

In Afghanistan, girls’ secondary schools have been closed for 300 days and counting, but the country’s teenage girls - assisted by an international army of volunteers led by Angela Ghayour - are finding other ways to learn.

Two women share their experiences of being detained by the Taliban while protesting the takeover.