The situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated significantly under the Taliban’s strict control, erasing hard-won progress in education and human rights. Girls’ schools are closing, and fundamental freedoms and rights are rapidly disappearing as promises are broken.
It has been three years since the closure of girls’ schools, and the world watches in shock. Afghan women are particularly hard hit by the oppressive measures, as their dreams of education and a better life fade away, and the broader framework of human rights disintegrates.
This regression is not just a local issue—it threatens regional stability and dims the prospects for global peace. The Taliban’s extreme beliefs and practices are reinforcing their hold, pushing the country back after years of gradual progress. The impact of this backward step reaches far beyond Afghanistan’s borders, affecting lives and diminishing hope for a stable future.
In early 2019, a senior Taliban delegate, flanked by other high-ranking officials, announced at a press conference that under their rule, girls would be permitted to pursue education up to the doctorate level and have the right to work. The Taliban’s leadership repeatedly reaffirmed this promise, seeking to convince both Afghans and the international community that they had changed their stance, marking a significant departure from their previous rule in the late 1990s and a continuation of the progress made in the preceding two decades under the Republic in Afghanistan. These initial assurances sparked optimism in some, leading them to believe in a potential transformative shift, with some even arguing that the Taliban could be trusted to keep their commitments, especially given that these promises were made soon after they took power.
As the Taliban marked three years in power, they stepped up systematic discrimination through a series of decrees and rules. This culminated in late August 2024 with the introduction of the Law Promoting Virtue and Eliminating Vice. The law gives the Taliban broad authority to investigate, prosecute, and punish women who fail to comply with strict dress codes, speak out, or limit their interactions in public, including interactions with non-Muslims. It also targets individuals who wear non-Muslim clothing or create or view visual content showing living........