In the wake of the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, Afghanistan has been thrust back into an era of intense repression and systemic human rights abuses. The once hopeful aspirations of millions have been replaced by fear and despair as the Taliban impose a regime reminiscent of their brutal rule in the late 1990s. At the forefront of this regression is the Taliban’s relentless assault on women’s rights, media freedom, and civil liberties—an agenda that signals their perennial obsession with a patriarchal and authoritarian vision of society.

A Repressive Legal Framework

Latest reports say that under the directive of Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s reclusive supreme leader, the regime has formalized a 35-article legal framework that squarely dictates the behaviour and rights of Afghan citizens. These laws, enforced by the revived Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, mark the first comprehensive codification of the Taliban’s vice and virtue policies since their takeover in 2021. The ministry, notorious for its role in the Taliban’s previous rule, is now more powerful than ever, wielding its authority to enforce draconian rules across all aspects of public and private life.

Central to these laws is a series of decrees that specifically target women, aiming to get rid of their visibility and voices from public life. Women are now required to be fully veiled in public, with their faces obscured to prevent what the Taliban describe as ‘temptation.’ The laws also forbid women from being seen by men who are not close relatives, enforcing a strict regime of gender segregation. Clothing must be neither thin nor tight, and any attire deemed ‘short’ is strictly prohibited. For the full text Read

Afghanistan’s Descent into Darkness: The Regressive Rule and the ‘Talibanning’ of Human Rights – The Geopolitics