Australia has banned social media accounts for young people under 16. This follows a larger government effort to protect minors, especially young women, from potential harms linked to social media, such as body-image issues, mental health challenges, and sexual exploitation. Australia is now the first country to implement such a ban. Australian Prime Minister Anthony […]
Following Tragic D.C. Shooting, Afghan Allies Face a New Wave of Enforcement and Fear
The shooting in Washington D.C. that left one National Guard member dead and another critically wounded on November 26 quickly became a major focus of U.S. media. Yet, the full picture of what happened tells a very different story from the one now shaping federal policy. The suspect is an Afghan man who once served […]
New Taliban Rule in Afghanistan: No Burqa, No Healthcare for Afghan Women
On November 5, 2025, in Herat, Afghanistan, the Taliban imposed a new edict requiring women to wear a burqa before entering public hospitals. Women patients, visitors, and even medical staff must now wear a burqa to be allowed inside any public healthcare facility. A burqa is a full-body covering that leaves only a small mesh […]
Under Gender Apartheid, Natural Disasters Hit Afghan Women Hardest
While still reeling from the August earthquakes in eastern Afghanistan, the country was hit by another 6.3 magnitude quake in the north on November 3, 2025. The disaster left at least 27 people dead and nearly 1,000 injured across Samangan and Balkh provinces. Afghanistan’s latest earthquake is not only a natural disaster, but a reminder […]
Taliban Claim To “Protect” Women, yet Bar Them From Seeing Male Doctors and Pursuing Medical Training
Maternal mortality in Afghanistan has reached a dire point, a result of a web of interconnected crises. The return of the Taliban and subsequent international aid cuts have created a healthcare collapse where women are the primary victims. Each factor reinforces the other, leaving Afghan women without care and providers. Countless Afghan women and children […]
UN Report Details Deepening Crisis for Afghan Women and Warns Against Normalising Taliban Rule
In a recent report, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan delivered his most urgent warning yet, telling the United Nations’ General Assembly that Afghanistan is facing “the most extreme and systematic assault on gender equality in the world today.” In his latest report, Richard Bennett cautioned governments against normalizing […]
Taliban’s Latest Execution in Afghanistan Exposes Ongoing Abuses and Control Through Terror
On October 16, 2025, Taliban publicly executed, Ismail, another Afghan man, convicted of murder, before thousands of spectators at a sports stadium in Badghis province, Afghanistan. In Herat province, a video from August this year captured Taliban fighters kicking the corpse of Mohammad Daud, accused of assassinating a commander, as crowds filmed the desecration, a […]
Taliban Internet Blackouts Sever Afghan Women’s Education and Hope. They Demand Global Action.
In late September, Afghanistan was plunged into a digital darkness. The Taliban government abruptly imposed a nationwide internet shutdown, cutting off millions of Afghans from communication, information, and, for many Afghan women, their final link to education and the outside world. While internet access has been partially restored in Afghanistan, reports from inside the country […]
A Landmark Step Toward Justice: UN Establishes Investigative Mechanism for Afghanistan
The United Nations Human Rights Council has recently approved the creation of an independent investigative mechanism to document, consolidate, and preserve evidence of international crimes and human rights violations committed in Afghanistan. The resolution, which was adopted by consensus on October 6, 2025, marks a turning point in the global response to Afghanistan’s deepening crisis […]
Deported with Nothing: The Human Toll of Forced Returns to Afghanistan
Since January 2025, Pakistan and Iran have been forcibly deporting Afghans back to Afghanistan. About 1.86 million Afghans have been forced to leave Iran, while 314,000 have returned from Pakistan. The large-scale repatriation of Afghans raises numerous health concerns, as many returnees face serious medical risks resulting from the difficult journey back to Afghanistan. With […]
Afghan Women Face Internet Blackout as Taliban Tightens Control
Afghanistan has been plunged into a sweeping Internet blackout once again. The Taliban first restricted internet access in mid-September 2025, banning fiber-optic (WiFi/wired) connections in some provinces, citing the need to “prevent immorality.” Local Taliban officials said the order was decreed by the group’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, and enforced across government offices, businesses, institutions, […]
Taliban’s 5-Year Strategic Plan Excludes Women. Afghan Women Push Back.
Taliban recently revealed a 5-year development plan for Afghanistan with three pillars, including economic and social development, governance and international relations, and security and public order. Fifteen key initiatives under these pillars include sectors such as agriculture, provision of energy, and development of education amongst many more areas targeting the country’s growth in the coming […]
The Afghan People Want Education for Their Girls. The Taliban Says No.
As children all over the world begin a new school year this September, there is a notable population that is missing from classrooms: girls above grade 6 in Afghanistan. Since the Taliban’s return to power over four years ago, their campaign to erase women from public life has deprived almost 2.2 million girls of education. […]
Taliban Bans WiFi in Afghanistan, Cutting Off a Lifeline for Women and Students
The Taliban has banned fibre-optic (WiFi) internet in 15 provinces across Afghanistan, one of the most significant steps yet in their effort to control digital access and restrict the flow of information. In Balkh province, a local spokesperson confirmed the order as a “complete ban” issued directly by the group’s leader. Officials claim the move […]
Afghanistan’s Deadly Earthquake Hurt Women and Girls the Most
A powerful 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck Afghanistan’s mountainous northeast province of Kunar on August 31st, leaving devastation in its wake. The Taliban has confirmed a death toll of over 2,200 people, although this number is continuing to rise as rescue teams race against time to reach survivors still trapped under rubble. The earthquake has also […]
Four Years After the Fall, Afghan Women Are Still Fighting for Their Future
August 15 marks four years since the world watched as the Taliban swept back into Kabul and reclaimed power in Afghanistan. The U.S. withdrawal marked the end of a twenty-year chapter, but for Afghan women and girls, it began an era of relentless rollbacks that has touched every part of their lives. What began as […]
Flogged into Silence: Taliban’s Public Brutality Targets Afghan Women and Society
Today in Afghanistan, public squares and sports stadiums have become sites of fear, humiliation, and state-enforced cruelty. Since returning to power in 2021, the Taliban have revived one of their most archaic and oppressive tools of control– public flogging. Men and women alike are whipped in front of crowds, often accused of “moral crimes” or […]
$9.7 Million in Contraceptives Set for Destruction as Aid Freeze Continues
The U.S. government is preparing to destroy a $9.7 million stockpile of USAID-purchased contraceptives originally intended for global aid. The contraceptives in the stockpile could provide at least one year of coverage to over 650,000 women and longer-term protection for even more. The State Department has confirmed these plans, which would cost $167,000 of taxpayer […]
Taliban Intensifies Gender Apartheid with Arrests and Abductions of Afghan Women
In the latest crackdown on Afghan women’s basic freedoms, the Taliban have launched a sweeping campaign of arrests, abductions, and abuse across Kabul—targeting women and girls for their clothing, visibility, and defiance. Human rights defenders are calling the campaign a calculated assault on dignity and a defining feature of Afghanistan’s entrenched system of gender apartheid. […]
U.S. Eliminates Afghan Relocation Office, Cutting Essential Lifeline for Afghans at Risk
In a deeply troubling move, the U.S. Department of State has notified Congress that it will eliminate the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts (CARE), which is the only dedicated office tasked with supporting Afghans left behind following the Afghan evacuation in 2021. This change is set to take effect July 1, 2025, unless Congress intervenes. […]