KABUL, AFGHANISTAN– Two young women reportedly took their own lives in Faryab province, northern Afghanistan, on Monday, November 4, amid a recent surge in the suicide rate.
The first incident, as reported by local sources, took place in the Pashtun Kot district of Faryab, where an 18-year-old woman named Arefa took her own life by hanging early in the morning.
According to the sources, Arefa was a married woman who committed suicide at her father’s home. The sources attributed her suicide to “domestic violence.”
In another incident in the province, a 22-year-old woman named Gul Afraz ended her life by ingesting poison in the Gurziwan district on Monday.
She was also married, and sources attributed her suicide to a “family dispute.”
The local Taliban authorities have yet to comment on these incidents.
These incidents follow last week’s case in Faryab, where a young man named Ahmad Shah took his own life by hanging in the hayloft of his home, with his death attributed to mental illness.
These are the latest suicide cases in Afghanistan. Since the Taliban takeover three years ago, the country has experienced a significant increase in the suicide rate, especially among young women.
This increase is linked to the Taliban’s strict restrictions on women and girls, mental health challenges, domestic violence, worsening humanitarian conditions, and poverty.
Under Taliban rule, the situation for most Afghans has become extremely difficult, especially for women and girls, who have been stripped of basic rights, including education, employment, access to public spaces like parks and gyms, travel, and other freedoms.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says that globally, males are nearly twice as likely to commit suicide compared to females. In stark contrast, in Afghanistan, approximately 80% of recent suicide attempts have been made by women.
Investigative data from Etilaatroz and KabulNow revealed that in the past year alone, a staggering 213 men and women, nearly 80% of whom were under the age of 20, committed suicide across Afghanistan.The actual numbers may be even higher, as many incidents go unreported due to Taliban media restrictions and the stigma surrounding mental health in Afghan society.
