KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Afghan women detained by the Taliban for begging have spoken of sexual abuse, physical violence, and forced labor while in detention.
In a joint report released on Friday, November 29, The Guardian and the Afghan media outlet Zan Times revealed the stories of several Afghan women detained by the Taliban for begging, who recounted the severe brutality they endured in Taliban prisons.
The homeless women, who were forced to beg on the streets and detained under the Taliban’s anti-begging law, said they were raped, beaten, and forced to work while in prison.
In May 2024, the Taliban’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, approved a law known as the anti-begging law, which prohibits “healthy women” from begging on the streets if they have enough money to cover the cost of one day’s food.
The Taliban then established a commission to register beggars, classifying them as “professional,” “destitute,” or “organized,” and to collect their biometric data and fingerprints.
According to the report, since then, the Taliban authorities have rounded up nearly 60,000 beggars, including women and children, in Kabul alone.
Since taking power, the Taliban have systematically suppressed women’s rights, including their right to most paid work, leading to increased levels of destitution, particularly among female-led households, across the country.
The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan has led to a significant deterioration in the humanitarian situation, making it one of the world’s most critical crises. According to the UN, more than half of the population, nearly 24 million people, now depends on assistance.
The women interviewed by the Guardian said they had no choice but to beg on the streets for money and food for their children after being unable to find paid work.
According to the report, in recent months, the Taliban authorities have targeted and detained many women beggars on the streets. While in prison, the women claimed they were subjected to sexual abuse, torture, and forced labor.
Zahra (not her real name), a 32-year-old mother of three, said that after her husband, a member of the army under the previous government, disappeared, she was forced to beg on the streets of Kabul. She explained that her husband went missing after the Taliban took power in August 2021.
“I went to the neighborhood councillor and told him I was a widow, asking for help to feed my three children,” she said, adding that the man did not offer any assistance and suggested she sit by the bakery, hoping someone might give her something.
Zahra said she didn’t know about the Taliban’s anti-begging laws until she was arrested.
“A Taliban car stopped near the bakery. They took my son by force and told me to get in the vehicle,” she said, adding that she spent three days and nights in a Taliban prison, where she was initially forced to cook, clean, and do laundry for the men there.
According to the report, Zahra was told that her fingerprints and biometric details would be taken. When she resisted, she was beaten until she lost consciousness. She said she was then raped.
After the incident, she said she considered ending her life several times, but her children stopped her. “I wondered who would feed them if I weren’t here,” she explained.
“Who can I complain to? No one will care, and I’m afraid they’d arrest me again if I spoke up. For my life and my children’s safety, I can’t say anything,” she continued.
Another woman, Parwana (not her real name), 35, a mother of four, was quoted in the report, recounting a story similar to Zahra’s. She said she was taken to Badam Bagh prison, where she was held for 15 days.
She recalled that she, along with two other women, was raped while in Taliban prison. “First, he came and did that to me, then to a young girl and another woman,” she said, adding that the incident left her traumatized and depressed.
The report further adds that former detainees also witnessed the abuse of young children in Taliban prisons, with one woman claiming that two children were beaten to death during her detention.
