KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – A 20-year-old woman reportedly ended her life by drowning herself in a well in Badghis province, northern Afghanistan, amid the country’s rising suicide rate.
Speaking with KabulNow today, local sources revealed that the victim was from Qadis district in the province and committed suicide on Monday, September 2.
The source attributed the incident to family problems and depression, which have significantly increased in recent years in the country.
Sediqullah Sediqi, the Taliban spokesperson for the security command in Badghis, confirmed the incident and said that the woman’s husband and father-in-law have been detained in connection with it.
Since the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021, Afghanistan has seen a significant increase in suicide rates, particularly among young women and girls.
Under Taliban rule, life has become extremely difficult for most Afghans, especially women and girls, who have been denied fundamental rights such as education, employment, access to parks and gyms, travel, and other freedoms.
Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Afghanistan, has described the Taliban’s restrictions on Afghan women as “a chilling attempt by the Taliban to make women invisible, by excluding them almost entirely from society.”
In the past month alone, KabulNow has reported at least three cases of women and girls taking their own lives across Afghanistan, with all cases attributed to family issues, depression, and poverty.
Investigative data from Etilaatroz and KabulNow revealed that in the past year alone, a staggering 213 men and women committed suicide across Afghanistan, with nearly 80% of them under the age of 20.
The actual number could be much higher, as many cases remain unreported due to the Taliban’s strict media restrictions and the reluctance of most families to report such incidents.
Over the past three years, the UN and human rights groups have repeatedly expressed concern about the situation, attributing the sharp rise in suicides to Taliban restrictions and the ongoing humanitarian crisis.
“Afghanistan is in the midst of a mental health crisis precipitated by a women’s rights crisis,” said Alison Davidian, the country representative for UN Women. “We are witnessing a moment where growing numbers of women and girls see death as preferable to living under the current circumstances,” she added.
