Taliban Detentions of Women Surge 435%, Marking Unprecedented Spike

DID Press: New figures released by Afghanistan’s Taliban-run Interior Ministry show a dramatic and unprecedented rise in the number of women detained across the country, with the total reaching 1,825 inmates—a 18.7% increase compared with last year and a staggering 435% jump compared with the republican era.

The data indicate that women are currently held in 34 dedicated women’s prisons across all provinces. Kabul records the highest number, with 469 female detainees, followed by Herat with 294 and Balkh with 141. At the other end of the spectrum, Panjshir reports just one female inmate, while Bamiyan, Maidan Wardak, Logar and Zabul register the lowest figures nationwide.

Comparative data from the World Prison Brief underline the scale of the shift. Throughout the 20-year republican period, the number of incarcerated women never exceeded 1,000. In 2021—the final year before the Taliban takeover—there were only 840 women in detention. By contrast, the total prison population in Afghanistan has now reached 24,446, with women accounting for 7.5% of all inmates.

United Nations reports attribute much of this increase to the expanded powers granted by the Taliban to the so-called “Vice and Virtue” enforcement units, with the detention of women forming part of the implementation of these directives. Experts also point to sweeping restrictions on women’s education and employment, widespread poverty, and the exclusion of women from the labor market, which have made them more vulnerable to exploitation, trafficking and systematic criminalization.

Overall, analysts say the Taliban’s increasingly stringent legal framework—particularly under the banner of enforcing morality—has created conditions that have led to the imprisonment of a record number of women across Afghanistan.

DID Press: New figures released by Afghanistan’s Taliban-run Interior Ministry show a dramatic and unprecedented rise in the number of women detained across the country, with the total reaching 1,825 inmates—a 18.7% increase compared with last year and a staggering 435% jump compared with the republican era.

The data indicate that women are currently held in 34 dedicated women’s prisons across all provinces. Kabul records the highest number, with 469 female detainees, followed by Herat with 294 and Balkh with 141. At the other end of the spectrum, Panjshir reports just one female inmate, while Bamiyan, Maidan Wardak, Logar and Zabul register the lowest figures nationwide.

Comparative data from the World Prison Brief underline the scale of the shift. Throughout the 20-year republican period, the number of incarcerated women never exceeded 1,000. In 2021—the final year before the Taliban takeover—there were only 840 women in detention. By contrast, the total prison population in Afghanistan has now reached 24,446, with women accounting for 7.5% of all inmates.

United Nations reports attribute much of this increase to the expanded powers granted by the Taliban to the so-called “Vice and Virtue” enforcement units, with the detention of women forming part of the implementation of these directives. Experts also point to sweeping restrictions on women’s education and employment, widespread poverty, and the exclusion of women from the labor market, which have made them more vulnerable to exploitation, trafficking and systematic criminalization.

Overall, analysts say the Taliban’s increasingly stringent legal framework—particularly under the banner of enforcing morality—has created conditions that have led to the imprisonment of a record number of women across Afghanistan.