For more than four years, the Taliban have imposed sweeping restrictions on women and girls. Alongside these measures, they have also closed criminal and sexual assault cases in ways that favor the accused and harm the victims, often by forcing women into marriage. In the most recent case, a family in Bamyan says their daughter was abducted by known individuals on the Baghlan to Bamyan road in Shebar district. A Taliban court in the province later forced her to marry one of the men accused of abducting her. Her relatives say that after 12 days, the Taliban transferred her to Bamyan. Instead of arresting the suspects, the Taliban jailed the girl for nearly 20 days. The group’s court then forced her into marriage without her consent or the consent of her family. Despite repeated visits to Taliban offices in Bamyan and Kabul, the family failed to stop the forced marriage. Nearly a month later, they still have no information about their daughter’s fate.
In an interview with the Hasht-e Subh Daily, the family confirms that a Taliban court forced their daughter into marriage with one of the abductors. They say they have been left in the dark for more than a month. “The [Taliban] court and the former governor of Bamyan, Abdullah Sarhadi, wronged us and handed Raqia over to the abductors through forced marriage,” they say. “More than a month has passed, and we do not know if she is alive or dead. Publish our voice so that the [Taliban] officials will hear us.”
Mohammad Nazir, son of Hazrat Bakhsh and the girl’s father, submitted a petition to the office of the Taliban governor in Bamyan, demanding action on his daughter’s abduction. In his petition, he writes: “On Monday, October 6, 2025, at 3:00 p.m., Piwandi, Rahmatullah, Khalilullah, Aibullah, Mohammadullah, and one masked individual launched an armed attack on the vehicle of Khalifa Dawood. The vehicle was traveling from Pul-e Khumri toward Bamyan when the attack occurred in the Tang-e Shanbal area of Shebar district, Bamyan province. The attackers fired from two black pistols at the vehicle and forced it off the public road toward the mountains.”
In the same petition, this resident of Bamyan states that the abductors kidnapped Bibi Gul Shah, Bibi Nikbakht, and Bibi Raqia, the daughter of Mohammad Nazir. He says that Taliban forces later rescued Bibi Gul Shah, Bibi Nikbakht, and Najma, and arrested two suspects, Rahmatullah and Aibullah. However, the remaining suspects took his daughter, Bibi Raqia, with them.
Another source confirms that the girl was traveling with her family from Baghlan to Bamyan when a group of about 15 people abducted her. According to this source, the abductors took her to the Rishqab area of Baghlan province and held her there for around 12 days. Later, in coordination with the Taliban in Bamyan and Baghlan, the abductors transferred her to Bamyan.
The source says: “The Taliban in Bamyan released the abductors but kept the girl in prison for about 18 to 20 days, as if she were the criminal. Abdullah Sarhadi, the former Taliban governor of Bamyan, decided the case in favor of the abductors. When the case reached the Taliban court, the court and Abdullah Sarhadi together forced the girl into marriage. They beat her and pushed her into a vehicle, and the Taliban court carried out the forced marriage. About a month has passed, and no one knows if this girl is alive or dead. Abdullah Sarhadi told us that our hands were tied.”
The source adds that Abdullah Sarhadi never responded to the family’s petitions. Every institution under Taliban control ignored their pleas. The family also traveled to Kabul but received no response there. In the end, a Taliban court in Bamyan enforced an extrajudicial tribunal ruling and forcibly married the girl to one of the abductors.
Court documents from Bamyan also show that the Taliban court ordered the girl to marry a man named Qudratullah.
The court ruling states: “I, Mawlawi Abdul Sattar Hashemi, son of Sardar Mohammad and grandson of Sayed Hashem, head of the Primary Civil Court of Shebar district in Bamyan province, while dismissed by the Amir al-Mu’minin at the time of issuing this ruling, held a public session at the court today, Saturday, at 3:25 p.m. After receiving fatwa number 22 from the incumbent mufti of the court, and based on unanimous agreement, Article 123 of the Administrative Regulations of Justice Courts, and testimony presented, I issued an order confirming the marriage of Raqia, daughter of Mohammad Nazir, with Qudratullah, son of Piwandi. I ordered that Raqia live as the lawful wife of Qudratullah, and that Qudratullah pay the dowry and observe marital rights.”
The girl’s family rejects the Taliban court ruling in Bamyan and says no one sought the consent of the girl or her family for this forced marriage. Earlier, sources had also complained about Abdullah Sarhadi, saying that during his tenure as Taliban governor of Bamyan, he consistently issued decisions in criminal and judicial cases that favored the accused and ignored the suffering of victims.
You can read the Persian version of this report here:
دختر ربودهشده در بامیان؛ طالبان قربانی را به نکاح اجباری اختطافچی درآوردند
