Razma was only 22 years old, an engineering student who dreamed of building a brighter future. Her goal was to graduate, secure a job, and support her aging father, who had worked tirelessly to fund her education. But those aspirations were cruelly crushed when the Taliban banned women from universities. Overnight, her path to independence and success was erased.
The despair was overwhelming. Razma wept daily, her once bright future now replaced with an abyss of hopelessness. Her family’s financial struggles meant professional help was out of reach. One fateful day, after seeing pictures of her former classmates attending classes she was no longer allowed to join, Razma retreated to her room in tears. Hours later, her family discovered her lifeless body. She had ingested rat poison.
Razma’s tragic story is not an anomaly but a chilling reflection of the plight of women under Taliban rule.
Since the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021, the mental health crisis among women has deteriorated, with recent statistics revealing a surge in suicide and suicidal tendencies. An investigation by Afghan Witness recorded 195 cases of female suicides between April 2022 and February 2024, with ethnic minorities and women subjected to Taliban imprisonment disproportionately affected. In 2023 alone, Etilaat Roz documented at least 103 cases of women dying by suicide across 28 provinces—most of the victims being under the age of 20. Data collected by the Guardian from healthcare workers in a third of Afghanistan’s provinces revealed a sharp rise in female suicides and attempts between August 2021 and 2022. These figures, however, only scratch the surface, as the Taliban’s restriction on media, fear of retaliation, and societal stigma obscure the full scale of the problem.
The causes of these tragedies are as complex as they are heartbreaking. Poverty, unemployment, forced marriages, domestic violence, sexual assault, and relentless psychological trauma, compounded by the Taliban-related gender violence and abuses, have plagued women in Afghanistan. Many suffer in silence, with no avenues for support.
The individual stories are heart-wrenching, with reports of female suicides emerging almost daily in the media. Salima, a woman from Ghor province, ended her life with a hunting rifle after enduring an ongoing family conflict. Suraya, a 19-year-old from Faryab, hanged herself for reasons her family refused to disclose. In Badakhshan, a grieving mother died of suicide in protest of her daughter’s forced marriage to a Taliban fighter. In Bamiyan, 19-year-old Tahira took her own life after being abducted and assaulted by Taliban forces.
Psychologists note that suicide is often driven not by a desire to die but by a desperate need to escape unbearable mental pain. Sheila Siddiqi, a psychotherapist in Afghanistan, explains that the Taliban’s oppressive environment—marked by draconian restrictions and systemic gender-based violence—has left women feeling hopeless and trapped.
Siddiqi highlights that the Taliban’s strict restrictions on women, particularly the denial of education and the pervasive limitations on their freedoms, are primary factors driving the alarming rise in suicides among girls and women in Afghanistan. These curbs, she adds, not only rob women of their future prospects but also contribute to widespread psychological distress, leaving many with no perceived escape from their grim realities.
Globally, men are nearly twice as likely to die by suicide as women, according to the World Health Organization. Afghanistan defies this trend, with women now accounting for 80% of reported suicide attempts.
The country has become one of the most depressed places in the world. A Gallup study found that 98% of Afghans suffer from psychological distress, with women bearing the brunt of this crisis.
The Taliban’s policies have erased women from public life. Education beyond sixth grade is banned, most job opportunities for women are gone, and even simple freedoms like visiting parks or traveling unaccompanied are forbidden. The suffocating environment is compounded by a surge in forced marriages, unchecked violence, and the absence of institutions to address women’s grievances.
Even before the Taliban’s return, the UN estimated that one in two Afghans suffered from psychological distress, with women disproportionately affected. Since then, the situation has worsened drastically. A 2023 report by UN Women revealed that nearly 70% of Afghan women suffer from anxiety, isolation, depression, and suicidal thoughts. By September 2024, UN Women reported that 90% of Afghan women and girls rated their mental health as “bad” or “very bad,” with conditions worsening by the quarter.
Peaceful public demonstrations by women demanding their rights have been met with the ruling regime’s violent repression, including arbitrary arrests, torture, intimidation, sexual and gender-based violence, and even death.
Furthermore, efforts to address the mental health crisis are thwarted by the Taliban’s restrictions and the collapse of Afghanistan’s healthcare system. With foreign aid withdrawn and hundreds of health facilities shuttered, access to care is virtually nonexistent for many. Female healthcare workers face strict restrictions, further limiting services for women.
Health workers are barred from sharing updated statistics on suicides, and hospitals are prohibited from releasing information. Families, fearing shame or Taliban retaliation, often choose silence. The few cases that reach public awareness likely represent only a fraction of the tragedy.
UN officials and human rights groups have condemned the Taliban’s treatment of women as “gender apartheid.” The systematic erosion of women’s rights is fueling the humanitarian and economic crises. Despite international outrage, little tangible action has been taken to address the suffering of Afghan women.
Razma’s death, like so many others, is more than a statistic. Her story, and the stories of countless others, demand to be heard. The international community must confront this escalating tragedy and act before more lives are lost to despair.
This piece was originally published by Etilaatroz in Farsi with additional reporting from KabulNow.
