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ISLAMABAD: The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has renewed its call for the immediate lifting of restrictions on education for Afghan women and girls, marking the International Day of Girls in ICT. According to a report by Afghanistan international, citing a statement released by UNAMA&nbsp;released on Thursday, April 23, access to education for women and girls is critical to fostering innovation, expanding employment opportunities, and ensuring a sustainable future in Afghanistan.&nbsp; The mission warned that the continued ban is not only a violation of fundamental rights but also a major obstacle to the country&rsquo;s development. According to UNAMA, 1,675 days have passed since authorities imposed a ban on education for girls beyond the sixth grade. During this time, an entire generation has been deprived of access to secondary and higher education, with long-term social and economic consequences. Since returning to power in 2021, the Taliban have enforced sweeping restrictions on female education, barring girls from attending secondary schools, universities, and other higher education institutions. The policies have drawn widespread condemnation from Afghan citizens, international organizations, and governments around the world. Numerous Islamic countries and global bodies have also called for the reversal of the restrictions, arguing that access to education is consistent with Islamic principles as well as international human rights standards. The Taliban, however, continue to defend their stance, describing the issue as an internal matter. Officials have repeatedly urged foreign actors not to interfere in Afghanistan&rsquo;s domestic affairs. Afghanistan remains the only country in the world where girls are prohibited from pursuing education beyond the sixth grade, a situation that continues to raise alarm among global advocacy groups and policymakers.

Computer classes in Afghanistan (Photo: Wikimedia commons)

Afghanistan

United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan urges Kabul’s authorities to lift the ban on girls’ education, warning it harms rights and the country’s future.

UN renews call to lift Afghan Taliban restrictions on girls’ education

ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan&#39;s Taliban have built a nationwide system of public executions and mass floggings, carrying out corporal punishment on at least 1,200 people and executing convicted murderers in sports stadiums and provincial squares, according to official Taliban Supreme Court records and data compiled by a local news outlet.&nbsp; Public floggings rose by 92% in a single month, from March 21 to April 19, 2026, as reported by Amu TV based on Taliban court statements. At least 115 people, including 14 women, were punished across 19 provinces.&nbsp;Kabul recorded the highest single-month toll with 24 floggings, followed by Nimroz with 17, and Nangarhar and Khost with nine each. Every capital sentence requires the personal sign-off of Supreme Leader Amirul Momineen Sheikh Hibatullah Akhundzada before implementation, according to the Supreme Court&#39;s own published records. Official documents describe this final review as an act of &quot;ultimate caution.&quot; The Supreme Leader convenes a council of senior religious scholars to examine each case before issuing the execution order. Executions in stadiums and squares At least four public executions have been documented through official Taliban channels since August 2021. The first took place in Farah province in 2022-23, attended by Chief Justice Sheikh Abdul Hakim Haqqani, Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, and Deputy Prime Minister Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, per Supreme Court records. Two men were then executed simultaneously at the Ali Baba football stadium in Ghazni on February 21, 2024, one convicted of a knife killing, another of a separate murder, after what the Supreme Court described as &quot;full and repeated&quot; investigation. In Paktia&#39;s provincial capital, Gardez, Muhammad Ayaz was executed for killing a man with a Kalashnikov rifle. The victim&#39;s family was &quot;repeatedly offered the opportunity for forgiveness and peace&quot; but insisted on execution, per official statements. Most recently, on December 2, 2025, Mangal, son of Tala Khan, was shot in Khost&#39;s sports stadium for premeditated murder, with the court citing a Quranic verse in its official announcement. Floggings by province and offense Supreme Court records from February and March 2026 document the geographic spread of floggings. In Farah&#39;s Balabuluk district, 14 individuals received between 20 and 39 lashes each on sodomy charges, while five others, including one woman, received public punishment for &#39;illicit relations&#39; and theft. In Maidan Wardak, four people, including one woman, were publicly flogged for adultery and sodomy.&nbsp; In Kabul&#39;s Char Asiab district, two people,&nbsp;including one woman, were punished for illicit relations and fleeing home. A theft conviction in Zabul carried 39 lashes and three years in prison; another in Ghazni drew one year imprisonment alongside discretionary punishment, per the same records. The court&#39;s General Directorate of Judicial Research and Studies issued 81 technical legal opinions during Ramadan, February 2026, alone to ensure punishments &quot;conformed to Hanafi jurisprudence,&quot; according to the Supreme Court&#39;s quarterly report. Scale of the apparatus The judicial machinery extends beyond punishment. The Ministry of Justice handled 33,700 property petitions and 57,000 commercial loan disputes in 2022-23 and returned over 308,935 acres of land to state control, according to its annual report. In November 2025, 7,521 prisoners were released or had sentences reduced following inspections ordered by the Chief Justice, according to Supreme Court records. Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid, whose X account has approximately one million followers, directly announces executions and dismisses UN criticism as &quot;contrary to reality,&quot; according to a Semantic Scholar study on Taliban digital strategy.&nbsp; The Taliban&#39;s supreme leader used the same channels in August 2025 to warn that &quot;God will severely punish Afghans ungrateful for [not accepting the Taliban&#39;s] rule,&quot; as reported by PBS. The United Nations and multiple human rights organizations have condemned the use of corporal punishment and public executions in Afghanistan.

Afghan men armed with guns and rifles march to show their solidarity with Taliban personnel in the Zazai Maidan district of Khost province on March 27, 2026. (AFP)

Every capital sentence requires the personal sign-off of Supreme Leader Amirul Momineen Sheikh Hibatullah Akhundzada before implementation, according to the Supreme Court's own published records.

Lashed in public, shot in stadiums: Inside the Afghan Taliban's punishment machine

ISLAMABAD: Taliban courts sentenced three women to flogging across two northern Afghan provinces over the weekend, with prison sentences of up to five years handed down on charges including &ldquo;illicit relations,&rdquo; according to an official statement from the interim government&rsquo;s Supreme Court. The punishments were carried out in Balkh and Jowzjan provinces. These are part of a broader series of rulings implemented across three northern provinces following approval by the regime&rsquo;s Supreme Court. In Balkh&rsquo;s Zari district, a woman was sentenced to five years in prison and 35 lashes on Sunday after being convicted of &ldquo;illicit relations.&rdquo; The ruling was issued by a primary court and enforced after review by higher judicial authorities. <div class="fr-embed"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display: flex; max-width: 550px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><iframe id="twitter-widget-2" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 777px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-2&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=2038195724676993334&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fmain.d1wrm1qseko1cp.amplifyapp.com%2Farticles%2F5001%2F&sessionId=3b77d12cca200d4fe655a96af0704e28bfd67611&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px">&nbsp;&nbsp;</iframe></div></div>In Jowzjan&rsquo;s Qosh Tapeh district, six people, including two women, were convicted on charges including illicit relations, insulting officials, and adultery. <div class="fr-embed"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display: flex; max-width: 550px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><iframe id="twitter-widget-0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 801px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=eyJ0ZndfdGltZWxpbmVfbGlzdCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOltdLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2ZvbGxvd2VyX2NvdW50X3N1bnNldCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOnRydWUsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfdHdlZXRfZWRpdF9iYWNrZW5kIjp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6Im9uIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH0sInRmd19yZWZzcmNfc2Vzc2lvbiI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJvbiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfZm9zbnJfc29mdF9pbnRlcnZlbnRpb25zX2VuYWJsZWQiOnsiYnVja2V0Ijoib24iLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X21peGVkX21lZGlhXzE1ODk3Ijp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6InRyZWF0bWVudCIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3Nob3dfYmlyZHdhdGNoX3Bpdm90c19lbmFibGVkIjp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6Im9uIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH0sInRmd19kdXBsaWNhdGVfc2NyaWJlc190b19zZXR0aW5ncyI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJvbiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfdXNlX3Byb2ZpbGVfaW1hZ2Vfc2hhcGVfZW5hYmxlZCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJvbiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfdmlkZW9faGxzX2R5bmFtaWNfbWFuaWZlc3RzXzE1MDgyIjp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6InRydWVfYml0cmF0ZSIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfbGVnYWN5X3RpbWVsaW5lX3N1bnNldCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOnRydWUsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfdHdlZXRfZWRpdF9mcm9udGVuZCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJvbiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9fQ%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=2038199489274495457&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fmain.d1wrm1qseko1cp.amplifyapp.com%2Farticles%2F5001%2F&sessionId=3b77d12cca200d4fe655a96af0704e28bfd67611&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px">&nbsp;&nbsp;</iframe></div></div> According to the court statement, the sentences ranged from six months to two years in prison, along with floggings of 20 to 39 lashes. A separate case in Faryab province&rsquo;s Shirin Tagab district involved three people, including one woman. They were sentenced to one year in prison for what authorities described as &ldquo;maintaining illegal relationships.&rdquo; The court also imposed additional &ldquo;punitive measures.&rdquo; <div class="fr-embed"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display: flex; max-width: 550px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><iframe id="twitter-widget-1" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 777px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-1&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=2038560810495058005&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fmain.d1wrm1qseko1cp.amplifyapp.com%2Farticles%2F5001%2F&sessionId=3b77d12cca200d4fe655a96af0704e28bfd67611&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px">&nbsp;&nbsp;</iframe></div></div> Local media reports said the punishments were carried out in public, attended by members of the judiciary and religious scholars. Civilian and military officials, along with large gatherings of residents, also witnessed the punishments. Taliban authorities say such rulings are intended to enforce legal and moral codes. The latest cases come amid a broader pattern of public punishments under Taliban rule. According to recent reporting and United Nations monitoring, corporal punishments, including floggings, have continued across multiple provinces. This has raised concerns about due process, transparency, and the protection of fundamental rights. Human rights observers say the use of public punishments, particularly against women, reflects a wider tightening of restrictions and enforcement of &ldquo;morality-based&rdquo; laws across Afghanistan.

A poster in Kabul reads: ‘Dear sisters! Hijab and veil are your dignity and are in your benefit in this world and in the hereafter’. (AFP)

Public floggings were carried out in Balkh and Jowzjan after Afghan Taliban's Supreme Court approval, with sentences including prison terms and lashes. Officials say the punishments enforce moral codes, while observers raise concerns over due process and public enforcement.

Taliban courts sentence three women to public flogging across Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD: Nine in ten Afghan men own a national identity card. Fewer than four in ten women do. That gap determines who can own land, see a doctor, send children to school, and claim what a father left behind. In Afghanistan, all of it comes down to a single document called a Tazkira. Without one, none of it is legally possible. The Statelessness Encyclopedia Asia Pacific, published by the organization Nationality For All in August 2025, put the disparity plainly: roughly 90% of men hold a Tazkira, compared to about 40% of women. The gap is worst in rural and conservative areas, where cultural norms and restricted mobility place the document further out of reach for women than almost anywhere else. Afghanistan&#39;s government has made measurable progress on issuance. Its National Statistics and Information Authority has distributed approximately 17.1 million electronic ID cards since the program launched in 2018, according to an official NSIA statement on Dec. 29, 2025. But the distribution tells its own story: 10.6 million of those cards went to men. 6.4 million went to women. Against a national population exceeding 40 million, the numbers leave a significant portion of the country unregistered. A December 2025 UNHCR protection monitoring report found that 50% of surveyed households had at least one member with no documentation at all. Women and children recorded the highest rates of exclusion. An earlier UNHCR household assessment from May 2024 put the share of affected households at 55% nationally. This rose to 77% in Uruzgan and Hilmand provinces. The barriers keeping women from the system are not incidental, they are structural. Afghanistan&#39;s 2024 Law on the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice reinforced the requirement for women to be accompanied by a male guardian to travel. That requirement directly obstructs visits to ID distribution centers, particularly for widows and female-headed households who have no male relative available. Government offices are predominantly staffed by men, adding another layer of practical difficulty for women seeking to apply. Then there is the cost. The fee for an electronic Tazkira was raised fivefold, from 100 Afghani to 500 Afghani. This follows a Taliban cabinet directive in April 2023, according to NRC&#39;s March 2026 briefing. Replacements and corrections now carry a fee of 1,000 Afghani. For families among Afghanistan&#39;s 22 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, those amounts force a calculation: which family members get documented, and which do not. UN Women reported in August 2025 that 76% of Afghan women face disparities in financial and social inclusion. The documentation gap sits at the root of much of that exclusion &mdash; blocking access to employment, banking, and legal services simultaneously. The consequences are not abstract. Without a tazkira, a woman returning home after years of displacement has no legal standing to reclaim property. Land taken by others cannot be contested. Inheritance cannot be asserted. NRC&#39;s March 2026 briefing describes families arriving back in Afghanistan to find their homes occupied and no legal avenue available to them. The 2025 return wave made all of this more acute. More than 2 million Afghans came back from neighboring countries during the year, many arriving without any paperwork. The agency described the situation as having reached a critical level. The women returning without documents are entering a country where the women who never left are already, on paper, largely invisible.

This photograph taken on February 17, 2026 shows an Afghan hospital medic, who studied public relations and journalism before universities were closed to women, standing next to a window inside a house in Afghanistan. (AFP)

A wide gender gap in Afghanistan’s ID system leaves many women without legal status, limiting access to healthcare, education, property, and jobs, while structural barriers and costs deepen exclusion.

Afghan women locked out as ID gap blocks rights nationwide

ISLAMABAD: Afghan women encounter significant obstacles to legal recourse and are almost four times less likely than men to access formal justice systems, according to a new United Nations report published Sunday. Released on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/cup-of-courage-celebrating-womens-resilience-in-dhaka-streets" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="noopener noreferrer">International Women&rsquo;s Day</a>, the UN findings on access to Formal Justice Mechanisms detail a growing crisis under Afghanistan&#39;s de facto authorities. The gap leaves women without safe avenues to resolve disputes, hold abusers accountable, or seek protection from violence. Barriers to dispute resolution weaken institutional trust and increase vulnerability for both communities and individuals, according to Georgette Gagnon, officer in charge of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). Access to justice remains a fundamental right and a cornerstone of safety and dignity, according to UN Women Special Representative Susan Ferguson. &ldquo;Excluding women from justice institutions damages their autonomy and removes rare opportunities to seek outside help, particularly for those facing domestic violence,&rdquo; Ferguson said. Only 14% of consulted women reported access to formal dispute resolution services, according to the data. In contrast, 53% of men reported having access. UN Women, UNAMA, and the International Organization for Migration conducted nationwide in-person and online consultations in December 2025, according to the report. These consultations reached more than 800&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/taliban-government-instituted-systematic-institutionalized-campaign-to-erase-afghan-women-un-experts" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="noopener noreferrer">Afghan women</a>&nbsp;and 160 men. More than half of the consulted women reported worsening access to formal justice mechanisms over the past year. Women attributed the decline to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/un-calls-on-taliban-to-lift-ban-on-afghan-women-in-its-offices" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="noopener noreferrer">Afghan Taliban</a>&nbsp;suspending key mechanisms, including the Ministry of Women&rsquo;s Affairs and Afghanistan&rsquo;s Independent Human Rights Commission. The exclusion of female legal professionals and the loss of women-centered services also contributed to this decline, the report observed. Afghanistan&rsquo;s interim government issued &ldquo;decree no. 12&rdquo; on discretionary punishments to courts earlier this year. According to the findings, this decree created additional obstacles for women seeking protection or accountability. Women also have significantly lower access to informal dispute-resolution mechanisms, such as traditional community councils known as jirgas (tribal councils) and shuras (religious councils). This limitation further restricts their ability to mediate disputes. Consultation participants requested actions to strengthen institutional mechanisms that protect access to justice. Participants in the report called for the re-establishment of women-led dispute-resolution systems, including women-only community committees. They also requested support for affordable centers providing confidential legal, psychosocial, and protection assistance. The 2026 global theme for International Women&rsquo;s Day is &quot;Rights, Justice, Action. For all Women and Girls,&quot; according to the UN. This theme demands the dismantling of barriers to equal justice, including discriminatory laws and harmful social norms, according to the report.

Women in Afghanistan are nearly four times less likely than men to have access to formal justice mechanisms. (UNICEF/Osman Khayyam)

A UN report says Afghan women face severe barriers to justice, with only 14% able to access formal mechanisms. Afghan Taliban policies, dismantled institutions, and exclusion from councils worsen protection, leaving women vulnerable to violence.

Formal justice eludes Afghan women under Taliban authorities: UN

ISLAMABAD: Taliban intelligence officers have seized and shut down the privately owned Rah-e-Farda television station in Kabul, the latest in a series of raids targeting independent media, international media watchdogs reported. According to the <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/israel-committed-twothirds-of-record-press-killings-in-2025-cpj" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="noopener noreferrer">Committee to Protect Journalists</a>, intelligence officers entered the broadcaster&#39;s headquarters on Feb. 28, forcing it off the air and ordering staff to leave the premises. The New York-based organization said the station&rsquo;s assets were confiscated following an order by the Afghan Taliban&rsquo;s supreme leader, <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/leaked-audio-exposes-taliban-fractures-as-akhundzada-tightens-grip-on-power" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="noopener noreferrer">Hibatullah Akhundzada</a>. The broadcaster was closed because of televised comments made by its owner, Mohammad Mohaqiq, regarding recent border skirmishes between the Afghan Taliban and Pakistan, according to a spokesperson for the Taliban&rsquo;s Ministry of Information and Culture, Khubaib Ghufran. Fighting erupted last week after Islamabad conducted <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/operation-ghazab-lilhaq-481-taliban-fighters-terrorists-killed-as-pakistan-continues-strikes" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="noopener noreferrer">airstrikes</a> in Afghanistan to target terrorists harbored by the interim Afghan government. The seizure follows a broader collapse of the Afghan media landscape since the Taliban&rsquo;s return to power in August 2021. More than half of the country&rsquo;s media outlets have ceased operations in the last three years, according to figures released by UNESCO and the International Federation of Journalists. At the time of the takeover, Afghanistan had 543 active outlets; only 312 remained by late 2021, according to a survey conducted by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Afghan Independent Journalists Association. Taliban authorities have intensified a crackdown on media professionals through arbitrary detentions and physical abuse. Between August 2021 and September 2024, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan documented 336 rights violations against media staff, including 256 instances of arbitrary detention and 130 cases of torture. The Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC) reported on March 4 that such violations increased by 56% in early 2025 compared to the previous year. Stringent censorship laws now govern the remaining press. Under the 2024 Law on the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the Afghan Taliban has banned the broadcasting of images of living beings in several provinces, according to the AFJC. Media organizations must also seek prior approval for political content, while direct criticism of Taliban officials is strictly prohibited, as per directives from the Ministry of Vice and Virtue. The environment is particularly <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/taliban-government-instituted-systematic-institutionalized-campaign-to-erase-afghan-women-un-experts" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="noopener noreferrer">restrictive for women</a>, with 80-90% of female journalists having lost their jobs since the takeover, according to RSF. In several regions, the Taliban have banned female voices from being broadcast on radio programs entirely. Afghanistan&rsquo;s global standing has plummeted as a result of these policies. The country ranked 178th out of 180 nations in the 2024 World Press Freedom Index, with RSF noting that it fell 44 places in a single year.

A member of Taliban security force keeps a vigil during an event organised to mark the 'World Press Freedom Day' at the office of the Afghan Independent Journalists Association (AIJA) in Kabul on May 3, 2023. (AFP)

Taliban officers have confiscated all station assets and expelled employees following reports on regional border hostilities. These actions coincide with a 56% increase in documented rights violations against Afghan media staff.

Articles tagged with "Afghan women"

UN renews call to lift Afghan Taliban restrictions on girls’ education

Lashed in public, shot in stadiums: Inside the Afghan Taliban's punishment machine

Taliban courts sentence three women to public flogging across Afghanistan

Afghan women locked out as ID gap blocks rights nationwide

Formal justice eludes Afghan women under Taliban authorities: UN

Afghan Taliban shut down TV station under supreme leader’s orders