Around a few months ago, a young Afghan woman from Kabul stepped out alone, pushing against strict Taliban bans on women’s education. Her resolve was simple and powerful: she would continue to work and learn, despite the risk.
Her courage brought swift, brutal consequences. Taliban authorities detained her, hauled her to a police station, and charged her with serious moral violations for leaving home unaccompanied. Under the Taliban’s rules, a woman is not supposed to go out without a male relative such as her husband, father, or an older brother. The penal code labels such actions as moral corruption, a charge that can trigger harsh punishment.
During questioning, she recounted being subjected to electric shocks on her back, face, and neck while being abused with insults. A weapon was pointed at her with threats of death, and she recalls the chilling certainty that no one could protect her. This testimony came through a human rights NGO and advocacy group, which documented her experience.
For Afghan women, entering a jail can feel like a death sentence. Once the door closes behind them, the stigma lingers and becomes nearly impossible to erase, a reality the young woman described with stark clarity.
A year full of unfulfilled promises
Last August, when the Taliban seized Kabul and began governing Afghanistan, their leaders and spokespeople offered sweeping assurances. They claimed the group had changed since the 1990s, would adopt a more tolerant stance, would not oppress people, and would permit women and students to live freely as citizens of Afghanistan.
Yet as months passed, the promises faded. The Taliban, now more secure in power, reinstated many ancient laws that restrict daily life for women and shape public behavior. Prohibitions emerged against going out unaccompanied by a man within the family, limits on education beyond secondary school, and a requirement to veil from head to toe in public. Work in the public sector was curtailed for most women, with exceptions for nurses and teachers, and social contact with male partners outside the family became tightly controlled. These measures intensified, contributing to forced marriages and other harms, while restrictions on men were less severe but still evident.
One Kabul-based journalist, Bilal Sarwary, who fled the country in August 2021 after the city fell, described the period as a stunning failure to win legitimacy. He argued that the Taliban have struggled to maintain their reputation and have faced significant criticism for banning secondary education for women. He attributes much of the resistance to ideological rigidity and to a pattern of silencing dissent, as officials suppress independent reporting and refuse to engage constructively with critics. Such viewpoints were shared by multiple observers who witnessed the abrupt shift in policy and governance.
An endless crisis
The country continues to endure an unparalleled convergence of humanitarian and economic challenges. The United Nations estimates that a substantial majority of Afghans live under the poverty line, a situation worsened by the withdrawal of much of the international aid that previously sustained the government in Kabul. The Taliban era has, for many, meant the loss of a predictable financial lifeline.
Compounding this are natural disasters that have devastated livelihoods, including a deadly earthquake in Paktika and widespread flooding in southern regions. These events have crippled crops, livestock, and the ability of families to feed themselves, deepening a sense of despair among communities already strained by political upheaval.
Health systems also strained under the regime have faced shortages of essential medicines. In some provinces such as Oruzgan and Helmand, doctors describe severe gaps in treatment capacity and a lack of basic supplies, underscoring the link between governance, international attention, and local welfare. Observers say these conditions reflect broader political calculus rather than a simple lack of resources.
As Kabul and other cities gradually reopened to foreign officials and aid agencies, the pace of recognition for the Taliban government remained slow and conditional. Analysts argue that formal recognition hinges on demonstrable changes to policies toward civil rights and education, particularly for women. Until such shifts occur, many Afghans and international partners remain skeptical about the prospects for meaningful reform or durable security, a fact echoed by reporters who continue to document life under the current regime.