KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – A man has killed his wife with a knife in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, amid a surge in domestic violence across the country.
Local sources told KabulNow that the incident took place on Monday, June 30, in Shawal village, located in Nad Ali district of Helmand.
Officials at Bust Provincial Hospital confirmed that the body of a 25-year-old woman named Zarghona was brought to the facility. She died from multiple stab wounds, according to the hospital officials.
Taliban authorities in the province have not yet commented on the killing.
The case comes just days after a similar incident in neighboring Kandahar province, where a man killed his six-month pregnant wife in Spin Boldak district.
Afghanistan has long faced high levels of domestic violence, but rights groups say the situation has worsened since the Taliban returned to power in 2021. Severe restrictions on women and girls, lack of legal protections, and deepening poverty have contributed to the surge in abuse.
The Taliban has closed all women’s protection centers that were established under the previous government to support survivors of domestic violence. The regime has also dismantled legal and institutional frameworks that once offered protection, leaving many women with no access to safety or justice.
Between January 2022 and June 2024, Afghan Witness, a project monitoring human rights in the country, recorded at least 840 cases of violence against women and girls. Of those, 332 were fatal.
