Have the Taliban truly “returned” after two decades? In terms of power, yes—but only by force. The reality is that they never left Afghanistan. For twenty years, despite US-NATO presence and a non-Taliban administration, the group regrouped, refined its strategies, embraced technology, and propagated its rigid interpretation of Islam, all with the steadfast support of the Pakistani state. Their ultimate aim was always the same: eventual control of Afghanistan.
Hollow Promises
On 14 August, one day before capturing Kabul, the Taliban promised they would respect women’s rights, allowing them to leave home unaccompanied, access education, and work—so long as they wore the hijab. But the situation on the ground immediately exposed the lie.
That same day, advertisements and billboards in Kabul showing women in wedding dresses were whitewashed. Just weeks earlier, in July, the Taliban had:
- Ordered imams in captured areas to provide lists of girls over 15 and widows under 45 for forced marriage to fighters.
- Issued regulations in Takhar province barring women from leaving home alone and setting dowry conditions.
- Publicly lashed a woman 40 times for merely speaking on the phone with a man, after which he too was arrested.
Entrenched Violence
The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission recorded 3,477 cases of violence against women in the first ten months of 2020 alone. Among these were 167 murders, largely so-called “honour killings”, along with cases of rape, abduction, and forced suicide. Violence against women, long normalised in Afghanistan’s deeply patriarchal society, has been given an even harsher voice under the Taliban.
The factors driving this misery are entrenched: illiteracy, impunity, corruption, misogynistic traditions, women’s limited access to justice, and the absence of security. Decades of war have shattered Afghanistan’s social fabric, transforming a once multicultural society into one marked by sectarian strife, tribal rigidity, and extreme repression—particularly of women.
A Climate of Fear
UNAMA’s 2020 report documented 1,146 female casualties—390 killed and 756 injured—and detailed cases of deliberate killing and cruel punishments by the Taliban. Women accused of “immoral relations” were executed or beaten in public. One 28-year-old was shot dead in front of her children for alleged adultery; in another case, two women were flogged with cables in a market for leaving home without a male guardian.
Such incidents are not isolated but part of a broader system of gender-based violence: beatings, rape, lashing, “honour” killings, forced immolation, child marriage, enforced prostitution, and the gifting of girls as war spoils. Taliban diktats reinforce a society where women live at the mercy of men, with little access to law or justice.
Lost Gains
One of the most significant achievements of the past two decades was the transformation of women’s rights. Millions of girls went to school. Women became journalists, artists, judges, and officials. They worked, studied, and interacted freely. For the first time in generations, Afghan women had space to live independently—socially, politically, and economically.
But the Taliban systematically dismantled these gains even before taking Kabul: bombing girls’ schools, assassinating female journalists, judges, and civil servants. Their record between 1996 and 2001—stonings, public lashings, executions—is now repeating itself.
A Grim Future
For Afghan women, the future under Taliban rule looks bleak. Fear, repression, and violence are already spreading. A generation that had tasted freedom is now facing its erasure. If the Taliban’s past and present are any indication, their pledges to respect women’s rights are nothing but empty words.
The prospects for women in Afghanistan are not just grim; they are catastrophic.