Several women and girls in Herat have raised alarm over the ongoing arrests and harsh treatment of women by the Taliban’s Morality Police. They report that Taliban members have been detaining women for wearing manteau coats. Eyewitnesses who have watched these arrests unfold have shared disturbing accounts of violent and degrading treatment by the Morality Police and Taliban fighters. According to witnesses, Taliban members beat resisting women with rifle butts, and some collapsed from physical and psychological trauma. Women in Herat also confirm that after two days of sweeping arrests and crackdowns on the streets, the presence of women in public has dropped sharply. Many say they cannot even leave home to buy necessities out of fear. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has stated that these actions constitute human rights violations. At the same time, women’s protest movements have condemned them as gender apartheid and a direct assault on women’s dignity.
The Taliban began arresting women and girls across various parts of Herat from Saturday onward, ordering women to wear the Chadari or burqa and warning that those who do not comply will be imprisoned.
An eyewitness present on the first day of arrests at the Almas-e Sharq Complex in Herat told the Hasht-e Subh Daily that she herself was wearing a Chadari at the time, but women who resisted were beaten and forcibly thrown into vehicles. She noted that several elderly women were among those detained, some of whom fainted from fear. She added that the previous day, motorcycle-mounted forces from the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice had been patrolling alleyways in search of women to arrest.
“What is most alarming is that many men do not stand by their mothers, sisters, or wives or come to their defense,” she said. “In many families, women have been forbidden from going out at all.”
She continued: “Yesterday on Khwaja Abdullah Ansari Street, a woman had stepped out to buy something from the supermarket across from her home. Two Taliban members on a motorcycle began following her. She ran back in a panic, throwing herself against her front door. Her husband came out and, being a Pashto speaker, had a long conversation with the Taliban in Pashto, apparently giving them some kind of assurance.”
Women and girls in Herat say that since the Taliban’s arbitrary arrests began, the presence of women in the city has plummeted. Even those with urgent needs say they cannot leave their homes out of fear, or are being stopped by their own families.
Another young woman, who had not left home the previous day, said, “Looking out from the window and the rooftop, you have to search to find a woman. There are far fewer than usual, and even those you see are in a Chadari and a face veil. I even spotted a few young girls in Chadari.”
Local sources in Herat, sharing video footage, report that on the second day of the crackdown, Morality Police from the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice continued arresting women and girls across the city and various districts on charges of not wearing the Chadari or burqa, transferring them to prison. According to sources, one woman was detained in the Jibrail area of Herat.
In response, Naseer Ahmad Faiq, the Acting Permanent Representative of Afghanistan to the United Nations (UN), wrote on his X account that these arrests, carried out under the pretext of “improper hijab,” are incompatible with the principles of Islam and the culture and traditions of the people of Afghanistan. “How do the Taliban’s Morality Police consider themselves mahram that they forcibly arrest and transport women in the streets and bazaars?” he asked. “This comes amid credible and documented reports of violence, abuse, and sexual assault in prisons, as well as forced marriages by Taliban members, cases that have never been transparently investigated or addressed.”
Mr. Faiq added: “These actions are part of the Taliban’s systematic policy to erase women from society, strip them of their fundamental freedoms, and degrade their human dignity. Detaining women over their clothing is not a defense of religion or values. It is a tool of repression, intimidation, and fear. We condemn these inhumane, unlawful, and un-Islamic actions in the strongest possible terms.”
Reactions from Protest Movements and Women’s Rights Activists
Several women’s protest movements and rights activists have condemned the Taliban’s actions through statements and protest videos, describing them as contrary to human rights values and a flagrant violation of women’s dignity. They say such orders are a direct insult to the fundamental rights of women in Afghanistan.
Members of the Purple Saturdays Movement strongly condemned the arbitrary arrests of women in Herat, stressing that “the Chadari is neither part of the culture and identity of the people of Afghanistan, nor is it compatible with Islamic values. Detaining women under the pretext of ‘improper hijab’ is a flagrant violation of human dignity, fundamental freedoms, and the right of women in Afghanistan to choose their own attire.”
The Women’s Movement Toward Freedom, expressing serious concern over the ongoing arrests, described the Taliban’s actions as a continuation of their systematic policy of suppressing women and restricting their individual freedoms. The movement said detaining women for not wearing the Chadari is inhumane and discriminatory. It added that barring women from moving freely in public through threats, intimidation, and arrest represents a deliberate effort to remove them from public life, and that the international community’s silence is enabling further violations of women’s rights in Afghanistan.
Women’s rights activist Sima Noori described the Taliban’s mandatory Chadari order in Herat as a textbook example of gender apartheid. She said the decision is a blatant affront to human dignity, and that countries remaining silent in the face of Taliban oppression bear responsibility and are, in effect, complicit.
Reactions from UNAMA and Human Rights Bodies
UNAMA expressed concern on its X page over the Taliban’s detention of women and girls in Herat, saying it was alarmed by reports of multiple arrests over alleged non-compliance with dress requirements. UNAMA said the reports raise serious human rights concerns and stressed that all people have the right to freedom of movement and that all individuals, women and men alike, must be equal before the law.
The human rights organization Rudaray said that as part of the Taliban’s ongoing repressive and discriminatory policies against women, large numbers of women in various parts of Herat have been arrested and imprisoned by the Morality Police for alleged failure to comply with the Taliban’s prescribed dress code.
The organization noted that since the Taliban issued a directive on June 5, 2025, requiring women and girls to fully cover their faces in public spaces, dozens of women have been arrested for non-compliance. It said such actions constitute a clear violation of women’s fundamental rights and freedoms, including the right to human dignity, personal liberty, and freedom of movement.
Previously, through the Law for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the Taliban declared women’s voices to be “awrah,” something that should be concealed, and warned that women may not leave their homes except out of necessity. The same law claimed that listening to women recite religious poetry or the Quran is impermissible.
The Taliban Supreme Leader had also previously ordered that women who do not observe the group’s prescribed dress code should, as a first step, have their male guardians imprisoned and brought before the Taliban’s tribunal. Under Akhundzada’s directive, women who fail to comply face punishment, followed by imprisonment and referral to the group’s tribunal.
You can read the Persian version of this report here:
چادری اجباری و توهین به کرامت انسانی؛ بازداشت زنان در خیابانهای هرات ادامه دارد
