The United States Department of State, in its 2023 Human Rights Report, has highlighted a significant deterioration in women’s rights in Afghanistan.
The report details various aspects of human rights abuses, noting that Taliban edicts have further restricted women’s access to education and employment, effectively confining them increasingly to domestic roles.
The Department of State observed that no Taliban decree or directive concerning women and girls’ education or work was reversed or softened over the year.
The U.S. State Department, in its annual report, stated that based on some reports, 16 women out of the 90 female prisoners in Jowzjan, Faryab, and Samangan provinces in northern Afghanistan became pregnant after being sexually assaulted by the Taliban, and at least four women were executed by the Taliban in Samangan after repeated assaults.
Rather, the Taliban promulgated new edicts that contradict existing Republic-era laws and Afghanistan’s obligations under international conventions, the report says.
The report enumerates significant human rights issues in Afghanistan, including credible reports of extrajudicial killings, severe physical abuse, harsh and life-threatening prison conditions, unjust detentions and abductions, including enforced disappearances, and extensive civilian harm in conflicts. These conflicts have involved unlawful recruitment or use of children in armed conflict by both the Taliban and ISIS-K.
Further, there are serious problems with the independence of the judiciary, arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy, and punishment of family members for alleged offenses of a relative. The report also highlighted serious restrictions on freedom of expression and media, including violence against journalists and censorship, severe restrictions on internet freedom, and substantial interference with freedoms of peaceful assembly and association.
The Taliban and ISIS-K reportedly engaged in child recruitment and used child soldiers younger than 12. Armed groups, including Taliban members, threatened, robbed, kidnapped, and attacked foreigners, medical and nongovernmental organization workers, and other civilians. The Taliban has been implicated in killings of individuals associated with the pre-August 2021 government.
However, Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesman of the Taliban, responded to the report of the US State Department regarding the “violation of human rights” in the country and said that the people of Afghanistan are “Muslims” and their rights are “provided according to Shariat”.