When the Taliban seized power in Kabul in August 2021, images of women and girls were painted over on shop fronts and female mannequins covered. Three years into their rule, women are banned from education, work and most other areas of public life in Afghanistan. Gender-based violence is widespread.
Photo: Afghan Witness
Three years on from the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, new analysis by CIR’s Afghan Witness project reveals the extent of gender-based violence (GBV) in the country. Since their monitoring began, analysts have recorded 332 reported cases of femicide – part of a wider trend described as “a systematic erasure of women from Afghan public life”.
Claims of GBV of different forms were “widespread across the country and occur frequently” Afghan Witness found, with reports showing 840 women and girls had been subject to GBV over a period of two and a half years, from 1 January 2022 to 30 June this year.
Open source investigators collected 700 reports from Afghan social media and news sites – some mentioning more than one victim – which referred to femicide, sexual and domestic violence, forced marriage, detentions, torture and disappearances of women and girls.
Graph showing the monthly distribution of claims of women killed, injured, arrested, detained, abducted, and forcibly disappeared in Afghanistan. Reports peaked in January and February 2024, coinciding with the Taliban’s dress code arrests.
A wider trend of repression
GBV is part of a broader trend in which women’s rights have drastically diminished in the country, reflecting dozens of repressive rulings issued by the Taliban since their return to power in August 2021.
“Three years on, this report shows how the Taliban have systematically erased women from Afghan society – barring half of the population from education, work, media, government, public debate and many forms of social life,” David Osborn, project director of Afghan Witness said.
“At the same time, gender-based violence is a daily occurrence across Afghanistan,” Osborn added. “Our data shows there is an environment of impunity despite reports of 28 victims of GBV each and every month.”
Claims of Taliban responsibility
The majority of reports collected by Afghan Witness (422) alleged that Taliban members were responsible for violence, though a lack of visual evidence limits the team’s ability to confirm the reports.
Among these claims are 115 reported incidents of sexual violence, including forced marriage, sexual slavery, assault and rape; 73 incidents of violence and torture of a non-sexual nature; and 113 arrests of women, many for protesting or flouting the regime’s policies on women and girls.
Chart showing the number of claims involving GBV allegedly perpetrated by Taliban members from January 2022 to June 2024. A lack of visual evidence makes verification difficult.
Decreasing street protests
Open source data collected by Afghan Witness shows how women’s street protests have declined significantly over the last three years, with campaigners filming indoor protests and uploading these online to avoid violence and arrests.
“Women’s rights activists who bravely took to the streets when the Taliban seized power have been arrested, detained or fled the country,” said Osborn. “Those who continue to protest from inside Afghanistan mainly do so indoors and online – with their faces covered – out of fear of reprisal.”
In July 2023, a group of women took to the streets of Kabul to demonstrate against the Taliban’s ban on beauty salons – one of the last places women could work and socialise. Taliban fighters responded to the protests by firing into the air and using water cannons to disperse the women.
According to the team’s most recent report, 88% of protests were held outdoors in 2021, but this dropped to half in 2022 and plummeted towards the start of 2024, with 94% of demonstrations now held online, often with location and identities hidden.
Percentage of protests held indoors versus outdoors from 2021 to 2024. Afghan Witness’ monitoring shows an increase in indoor protests and a stark decrease in outdoor protests over this period.
A shrinking online space
Activists and campaigners have faced violence online as well as off, however. A November 2023 investigation by Afghan Witness found that politically engaged Afghan women faced increasing online abuse since the Taliban's takeover, prompting some women to limit their online participation or self-censor completely.
In March 2024, the project reported the presence of several accounts on X that were impersonating female journalists and spreading pro-Taliban content online. Some of these accounts used derogatory language toward the Afghan LGBTQ+ community and attempted to defame female activists and journalists.
Restrictions intensify
The Taliban appear to have tightened their enforcement of certain restrictions over the past year. In January, the Taliban arrested women for violating hijab rules in predominantly Shia neighbourhoods of Kabul city.
There has also been a gradual erasure of female TV anchors, Afghan Witness’ report finds. Following a Taliban decree issued in May 2022, female journalists began to cover their faces on air, but 2024 has seen female anchors disappear from some outlets entirely.
‘Tip of the iceberg’
According to the report, many cases of gender-based violence go unreported and actual figures are likely higher than those recorded through open source.
“What we have collected is only the tip of the iceberg,” said Osborn, who added that “media restrictions, political repression and online intimidation” make it increasingly difficult for Afghan women to speak out and for analysts to document GBV and the impact of Taliban rule on women and girls.
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