KABUL – The Taliban-controlled National Statistics and Information Authority has announced that including a photograph on women’s national ID cards is now optional, a move that women’s rights advocates are calling another step in the systematic erasure of women from public life.
The decision, reportedly made under the direct orders of Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada and supported by a religious ruling (fatwa) from the group’s Dar al-Ifta, is drawing sharp criticism from activists and civil society groups.
Mohammad Halim Rafi, spokesperson for the Statistics and Information Authority, declined to provide further details when contacted by KabulNow. However, the agency has stated that women can now choose whether or not to include a photo in their official identification documents.
Women’s rights advocates have condemned the policy as discriminatory and dangerous, arguing that it undermines women’s legal and civic identity in a country where they are already facing widespread exclusion.
“This is an attempt to render Afghan women invisible,” said a member of the Afghanistan Justice-Seeking Women’s Movement. “A woman’s identity is not negotiable. The Taliban cannot erase us by removing our images from official documents.”
The Afghan Women’s Political Participation Network also criticized the move, calling it part of a broader campaign of systematic gender apartheid under the Taliban regime.
Since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban have issued more than 100 decrees targeting women and girls, virtually erasing them from all aspects of public life.
These include bans on secondary and higher education for girls, prohibitions on most forms of employment, restrictions on freedom of movement without a male guardian, and requirements for women to cover their faces in public. In some cases, even women’s voices have been deemed inappropriate for public broadcast, and female presenters have been forced to wear face coverings on television.
Women have been detained, harassed, and even physically punished for defying Taliban dress codes or participating in peaceful protests.
The United Nations and international rights groups have repeatedly condemned these policies as violations of international law and as forms of institutionalized gender persecution.
The new ID card regulation, critics warn, is yet another step to make women legally invisible and further limit their ability to access essential services, own property, or participate in civic processes, a pattern consistent with the Taliban’s broader ideological project to confine women to the private sphere.
As the international community continues to engage with the Taliban over humanitarian and political concerns, rights groups are calling for stronger and more unified action to defend the basic rights of women and girls.
