KABUL — Human Rights Watch has warned that repression in Afghanistan has intensified under the Taliban four years after their return to power. Aid cuts, mass deportations, and systematic abuses are deepening one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
In a statement Tuesday, the rights group said the Taliban’s rule since August 2021 has been marked by increasing violations, especially targeting women, girls, journalists, and civil society.
“The fourth anniversary of the Taliban takeover is a grim reminder of the gravity of the Taliban’s abuses, particularly against women and girls,” said Fereshta Abbasi, Afghanistan researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The Taliban’s abhorrent acts should compel governments to support efforts to hold the Taliban leadership and all those responsible for serious crimes in Afghanistan to account.”
The warning follows arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court last month for Taliban leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani on charges of gender persecution.
Since taking power, the Taliban have banned girls from secondary and higher education and restricted women from work, public spaces, and travel without a male guardian. A 2024 virtue and vice law has intensified surveillance and punishments.
The regime’s morality police have raided workplaces, checked mobile phones, and detained people for playing music or wearing “inappropriate” clothing. Women face daily threats of arrest and are often blocked from accessing health care and aid services.
Human Rights Watch also pointed to a deepening migration crisis. Since late 2023, Iran and Pakistan have forcibly returned nearly 1.9 million Afghans. Many had lived abroad for decades or fled Taliban persecution.
In July, Germany deported 81 Afghans to Kabul in its first such action since 2021. The United States, under the Trump administration, has ended temporary protected status for Afghan nationals, suspended refugee admissions, and placed Afghanistan on its travel ban list, making thousands eligible for deportation.
Inside Afghanistan, nearly 23 million people—half the population—require food aid. But international funding has collapsed.
Cuts to U.S. aid, which previously made up over 40% of humanitarian support, have forced the closure of more than 400 health facilities and disrupted key food and education programs. Malnutrition among children is rising sharply.
Media freedom has also collapsed. Journalists face sweeping content restrictions and threats of arrest, leading to widespread self-censorship.
In September 2024, a coalition of Afghan and international rights groups urged the UN Human Rights Council to create an independent accountability mechanism for Afghanistan. No such body has been established.
HRW is now calling on the European Union to support the mechanism in the Council’s next session. It also urged all governments to stop deporting Afghans back into unsafe conditions.
“The global implications of the Taliban’s takeover have become increasingly clear over the past four years,” Abbasi said. “Governments need to press the Taliban to end their abuses while also alleviating Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis. No country should be forcibly returning any Afghans.”
