KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – A man in Kapisa province, northeastern Afghanistan, has shot dead his wife and two of her relatives before injuring himself, the Taliban police command in the province has confirmed.
The incident took place Friday in the province’s Alasay district. The suspect, identified as Kifayatullah, reportedly opened fire on a 30-year-old man and his six-year-old son before killing his wife and turning the gun on himself, Taliban officials said in a statement.
The statement revealed that the 30-year-old victim was Kifayatullah’s wife’s uncle, a businessman who had been living in Kabul and had recently visited to the province.
Local authorities have attributed the killings to “domestic violence” and “family problems.” Kifayatullah has been arrested, and an investigation is ongoing.
Domestic and gender-based violence has long been a persistent issue for women and girls in Afghanistan, with a significant rise in such incidents since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.
From January 2022 to June 2024, Afghan Witness, a project by the Center for Information Resilience, documented 700 incidents of violence against 840 women and girls. These cases included femicide, physical abuse, sexual assault, torture, enforced disappearances, and other forms of violence targeting women and girls.
The Taliban has closed all women’s protection centers, which were set up under the previous government to support female survivors of domestic violence. The regime has also dismantled legal and institutional frameworks that once protected women and girls, leaving many trapped in a cycle of violence with no access to justice.
