KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – A woman was shot and killed by her husband in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province, local Taliban authorities said, in the latest reported case of violence against women in the country.
The incident occurred in the third district of Jalalabad, the provincial capital on Saturday, November 7, according to Sayed Tayeb Hammad, spokesman for the Taliban security command in Nangarhar. The woman was killed by gunfire outside their house.
Hammad said the man fled the scene after killing his wife and that efforts to arrest him were underway.
The motive for the killing remains unknown.
The killing is the latest in a series of similar incidents reported across Afghanistan in recent months, most attributed to domestic violence. Rights groups say domestic violence has increased since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.
The Taliban has closed women’s protection centers established under the previous government to support survivors of domestic violence. The group has also dismantled legal and institutional frameworks that once offered protection, leaving many women with limited access to safety or justice.
Between January 2022 and June 2024, Afghan Witness, a project that monitors human rights violations in Afghanistan, recorded at least 840 cases of violence against women and girls, including 332 deaths.
