Five Years of Taliban Rule Marked by Widespread Human Rights Violations
DID Press: The human rights organization Rawadari has said in a new report that systematic human rights violations and the repression of Afghan citizens have continued over the past five years, with thousands of civilians falling victim to targeted killings, arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial punishments.
According to the organization’s findings, at least 6,929 civilians were killed or injured in various incidents between August 15, 2021, and December 31, 2025. The incidents included targeted and extrajudicial killings, bomb and suicide attacks, explosions involving unexploded ordnance left over from the war, and military attacks by Pakistan.
During the same period, 399 former government employees and their family members were deliberately killed by the Taliban or unidentified armed individuals. At least 47 protesters, including eight women, were also killed for taking part in peaceful demonstrations against the Taliban.
Rawadari reported 6,043 cases of arbitrary detention involving women protesters, former government employees, civil society activists, journalists and human rights defenders. Among those detained, at least 51 prisoners reportedly died as a result of torture, while 171 people were reported missing.
The organization also said that Taliban courts have subjected 2,423 people to what it described as “cruel and inhumane” punishments over the past five years, including public executions and retribution, flogging and blackening the faces of defendants.
According to the Rawadari report, the exclusion of women and girls from education and employment, their removal from public life, suppression of freedom of expression and the media, and the introduction of restrictive laws are among other documented human rights violations.
The organization stressed that despite widespread repression, civil resistance and advocacy by women, civil society activists and journalists continue. It said documentation of violations would also continue in pursuit of accountability and justice.