An Afghan hospital medic inside a home in Afghanistan, February 17, 2026. Before the Taliban banned women from universities, she studied journalism and public relations.
(New York) – Afghanistan’s Taliban have entrenched one of the world’s worst human rights crises and systematically dismantled the rights of women and girls since taking power five years ago, Human Rights Watch said today, releasing a timeline of abuses over the last five years. Afghanistan is also facing a severe humanitarian crisis with nearly 40 percent of the population in urgent need of assistance.
Since capturing Kabul on August 15, 2021, Taliban authorities have imposed sweeping restrictions on women’s rights to work, movement, and participation in public life as part of a broader system aimed at social control and curbing any dissent. The Taliban’s morality police have raided workplaces, surveilled public spaces, and arbitrarily arrested women for alleged violations of dress code rules. Afghanistan remains the only country in the world where girls are barred from education beyond the sixth grade.
Afghanistan: 5 Years Under Taliban Rule
August 15, 2026 will mark five years since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan. Over the last five years, the Taliban’s increasingly draconian policies have made Afghanistan one of the world’s gravest human rights crises, particularly for women and girls.
A Human Rights Crisis, a Humanitarian Crisis
“The fifth anniversary of the Ta
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