Several women in Kabul say they are compelled to resort to tribal councils due to the challenges and obstacles they face in Taliban-controlled institutions when seeking divorce. They note that proceedings in these councils can take months, a process that not only fails to resolve their issues but also introduces new challenges. According to these women, many council organizers lack sufficient knowledge of legal matters, and their decisions are often influenced by prevailing societal traditions.
Some women who approached the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice for divorce told the Hasht-e Subh Daily that the Taliban have made divorce a complex, costly, and time-consuming process. They claim that even in cases of severe domestic violence, the Taliban refuse to issue divorce rulings. These women add that previously, they could obtain a divorce without their husband’s consent in cases of addiction or violence, but now the process has shifted in favor of men.
Suraya, a resident of Kabul’s Bagrami district, says that after her divorce request was rejected by the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, she was forced to turn to a tribal council to escape a life of violence. She explains that her husband suffered from mental health issues and repeatedly beat her severely, but the Taliban deemed the violence “normal” and stated that it was not serious enough to warrant a divorce.
Suraya recounts her years of pain and suffering: “In 10 years of living with my husband, I experienced nothing but violence and beatings, never affection. Once, he beat me so badly that I lost my unborn child. When I went to my father’s house, and they saw my condition, they decided on a divorce. I went with my father to the Taliban’s Ministry of Vice and Virtue, and he explained that the reason for the divorce was my husband’s severe beatings. But the Taliban said it wasn’t a serious issue. They said every man beats his wife, and this matter should be resolved through the community elders. No matter how many times I tried, it led nowhere. In the end, through a tribal council, I got a divorce without receiving my dowry, and they even gave my breastfeeding child to my husband.”
Suraya believes that the Taliban’s disregard for women’s divorce cases has emboldened men to perpetrate any form of violence against women without fear of legal consequences.
Susan and Atifa, two other women, share similar accounts. They say they sought divorce through Taliban authorities due to domestic violence, but were obstructed by the group.
Susan says she spent nearly a year trying to divorce from her husband. She adds, “For months, I ran around tirelessly, but it yielded no results. I approached community members and a mullah, and they eventually held a meeting, through which I got a divorce. When I went to Taliban offices, they asked why I wanted to divorce my husband, saying, ‘Do you want to engage in immorality?’ All I wanted was to escape a man who sold all our household belongings and was about to sell our only children for gambling and drugs.”
Atifa, who faced humiliating treatment during her case, says: “When I went to the Taliban court, the judge didn’t even let me fully explain my complaint. He just said that a woman seeking divorce is not a good thing and that women must endure and tolerate. But I had endured so much violence. Do you see these scars on my hand? My husband would heat a ladle until it was red-hot and press it against me.”
Shamsia, a 19-year-old who was engaged to her cousin four years ago at her family’s insistence, now faces a different fate from married women. She says she is trying to end this violent engagement before starting a married life, but the Taliban do not accept unilateral divorce requests. According to her, divorce remains a taboo in Afghanistan’s traditional society, and her family has asked her to abandon her divorce request to preserve their honor.
Shamsia says, “He never allowed me to be free. When I decided to separate from him and discussed it with my mother, she scolded me, saying women don’t get divorced. When I went to the Taliban court, they said the matter should be resolved through the community elders. We tried this multiple times, but it led to no results.”
Following the collapse of legal institutions after the Taliban’s takeover, official divorce statistics are no longer available. The Ministry of Women’s Affairs, the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, and the Attorney General’s Office for Combating Violence Against Women have been dissolved, and female defense lawyers have been confined to their homes.
Before the collapse of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, the Deputy Office for Combating Violence Against Women and Children was established under the former Attorney General’s Office to address violence against women. This office was responsible for handling cases of violence against women and children, ensuring their legal and religious rights, upholding human dignity, taking legal steps to prevent violence, and supporting affected women.
The Washington Post previously reported that women who have divorced in Afghanistan are labeled by the Taliban as “lawbreakers and immoral.” According to the report, thousands of divorced women now face the risk of imprisonment and violent reprisals. It highlights that after the Republic’s collapse, power has shifted in favor of husbands with ties to the Taliban. The report also notes that divorced women, after remarrying, have been forced to live in hiding due to fear of retaliation from former husbands and baseless accusations.
The United Nations Women, Peace, and Security Working Group reported that women in Afghanistan feel unsafe not only in society but even in their own homes. According to the group, by dismantling formal mechanisms for addressing gender-based violence, the Taliban have effectively granted men complete control over women in their families.
The report states that the Taliban, by imposing specific dress codes and threatening detention and punishment for non-compliance, have intensified the environment of domestic violence. These policies have systematically legitimized male violence and restricted women’s presence in society.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has announced that it has formally requested arrest warrants for Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban Supreme Leader, and Abdul Hakim Haqqani, the head of the group’s Supreme Court, due to the persecution of women and girls in Afghanistan. On Thursday, January 23, 2025, the court stated that “following comprehensive investigations and based on collected evidence, there are reasonable grounds to hold Hibatullah Akhundzada and Abdul Hakim Haqqani criminally responsible for crimes against humanity and widespread gender-based discrimination under the Rome Statute.”
You can read the Persian version of this report here:
محروم از حق طلاق، گرفتار خشونت؛ طالبان زنان را به جرگههای قومی میفرستند
