The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in its quarterly human rights report that the Taliban’s sweeping restrictions on women, education, media, and civil liberties have continued and, in some cases, intensified. The report also documents detention, mistreatment, and corporal punishment by the Taliban, noting hundreds of recorded floggings, as well as killings and arbitrary detentions targeting, in particular, former military personnel. Severe curbs on media, freedom of expression, and freedom of religion, alongside stringent regulations imposed on the daily lives of the people of Afghanistan, are described in the report as integral to the Taliban’s legal and judicial framework, one built around harsh, far-reaching punishments.
UNAMA published the report on Tuesday, May 12, covering the period from January through March 2026, and detailing widespread human rights violations committed by the Taliban across Afghanistan.
The report states that since September 7, 2025, the Taliban have barred women in Afghanistan, including UN staff, contractors, and visitors, from entering UN offices throughout the country. On January 17, 2026, media reports cited by UNAMA indicated that women had been removed from civil service payroll lists and that their salaries had been cut. Female employees previously banned from attending offices had their work suspended; in some provinces, they were dismissed without prior notice and only discovered they had been let go when their salaries stopped arriving.
Marking the start of the new academic year, UNAMA noted that this is the fifth consecutive year in which the Taliban have banned girls and women from accessing education beyond the sixth grade. Citing data from the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), UNAMA added that 2.2 million girls and women have been denied access to secondary and higher education since 2021.
The report states that restrictions on women’s freedom of movement by the Taliban’s Morality Police in Herat remain in force, with women required to wear a chadari, or burqa, in public. UNAMA documented multiple cases in which the Morality Police ordered women in Herat to disembark from public transportation or briefly detained them for not wearing a chadari.
On January 11, a woman in Herat was ordered out of a taxi for failing to wear a chadari. On February 12, two women in Herat city were told to get off a bus for the same reason. The Morality Police instructed both women to call their families and have a chadari brought to them; once the garments arrived and were put on, the women were allowed to leave.
UNAMA reported that on March 23, the Morality Police set up checkpoints at multiple locations in the Jibrail area of Herat and stopped women not wearing a chadari. The women were held by the roadside until family members arrived with the required garment.
UNAMA also documented further restrictions on women’s movement across the country. In Uruzgan, Paktia, and Kandahar, the Morality Police instructed health facilities not to treat women unaccompanied by a male guardian, and female healthcare workers were required to travel to and from work with a male guardian present.
In Uruzgan and Ghazni provinces, the Morality Police told shopkeepers not to sell goods to women unless they were accompanied by a male guardian and wearing appropriate dress. In one documented case, a shopkeeper was detained for selling goods to a woman without a male guardian and held overnight at the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. In Kandahar, real estate agents were ordered not to rent homes or properties to women without a male guardian.
Taliban-Pakistan Border Clashes
UNAMA reported that Pakistani attacks on the territory of Afghanistan killed 372 civilians and wounded 397 others. The report, covering January 1 to March 31, 2026, states that these casualties were recorded during clashes between Pakistan and the Taliban across several Afghan provinces. Pakistani airstrikes on March 16 struck the “Omid” addiction treatment hospital in Kabul, killing 269 people and wounding 122 others. All those killed were male; one woman was among the wounded. The strikes also hit a dormitory for people with addiction, a mosque, and a food storage container.
Corporal Punishment
Between January 1 and March 31, UNAMA’s human rights division documented corporal punishment carried out by the Taliban against at least 312 individuals: 269 men, 39 women, and four boys.
On February 5, at Shafaq High School in Bagram district, Parwan province, a Taliban primary court sentenced five men and three women to 39 lashes each on charges of engaging in sexual relations outside of marriage. Two women and two men were also sentenced to four years in prison, a third woman to two years, and another man to one year.
Killings and Detention of Former Military Personnel
Between January 1 and March 31, UNAMA documented at least 23 cases of arbitrary arrest and detention and one case of torture and mistreatment of former security force members. It also recorded human rights violations against former officials and members of the former military, including extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detentions, torture, and inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment.
At least five killings of former members of Afghanistan’s National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) were recorded. UNAMA emphasized that former government officials and former ANDSF members who are involuntarily returned to Afghanistan remain at risk of human rights violations after their return.
During the reporting period, UNAMA documented eight human rights violations against former officials and government members who had recently been involuntarily returned to the country.
On January 7, in Khwaja Du Koh district of Jawzjan province, a former commander of pro-government militia forces was shot and killed by unknown assailants who entered his home. According to UNAMA, he had fled to Iran after the Taliban takeover but had been involuntarily returned to Afghanistan roughly five months before his death.
Media Freedom
On January 26, the Taliban’s Ministry of Information and Culture announced on X that the operating licenses of all but three media support organizations had been revoked. The stated reasons were unprofessional conduct and, in some cases, inactivity.
During the reporting period, two media outlets were suspended. On February 28, the spokesperson of the Taliban’s Ministry of Information and Culture announced on X that “Rah-e Farda” television had been shut down. The Taliban stated that the channel’s head had publicly declared Pakistan’s military action against non-citizens of Afghanistan to be justified and had condemned the Taliban’s retaliatory operations against Pakistan.
On March 3, in Ghazni province, the provincial media violations committee suspended “Khushal” private radio station. Taliban-controlled national radio and television stated on X that the suspension was due to the station’s involvement in activities contrary to cultural and social values. UNAMA, citing the Taliban, said the station had allowed female students to call in and speak with a male presenter during a live broadcast. The station resumed broadcasting on March 10, after a seven-day suspension.
UNAMA noted that no clear or defined process exists through which media outlets can appeal suspension decisions. Mahdi Ansari, detained by the Taliban’s General Directorate of Intelligence in October 2024, was released on March 18, 2025. In January, he was sentenced to 18 months in prison, reportedly for links to a diaspora media outlet and for anti-Taliban propaganda.
The Taliban’s General Directorate of Intelligence (GDS) and its Morality Police also detained three staff members of the “Afghanistan Media Organization” in July 2025; all three remain in custody. Two were sentenced in December 2025 to two and a half years and three years in prison, respectively. According to UNAMA, all three were charged with promoting women’s education, spreading moral corruption, and espionage.
Restrictions and Mistreatment by Taliban Morality Police
From January 1 to March 31, 2026, UNAMA documented at least 336 cases of mistreatment and 59 cases of arbitrary arrest and detention of women and men by the Taliban’s Morality Police. The cases involved men targeted for trimming their beards or wearing what the Taliban deemed “Western” hairstyles, individuals playing or listening to music, and women accused of violating dress code requirements.
On February 14, the Morality Police monitored flower shops to prevent people from buying flowers to mark Valentine’s Day. UNAMA documented arrests of people accused of selling or purchasing Valentine’s Day gifts in at least three provinces. The spokesperson of the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice described the celebration of Valentine’s Day in Afghanistan as regrettable, calling it a Western practice rooted in moral decay and the imitation of foreign culture.
During Ramadan, which ran from February 18 to March 17, the Morality Police monitored fasting compliance and attendance at congregational prayers, including ensuring shops were closed during prayer times. In some provinces, individuals eating during Ramadan were subjected to mistreatment and detention, while those who skipped Tarawih prayers or kept their shops open during prayer times were compelled to comply; some were also mistreated.
On March 21, the spokesperson of the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice announced on X that the public should not celebrate Nowruz, as the holiday is prohibited under the Taliban’s Law for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.
Freedom of Religion
In at least eight provinces, the Taliban ordered Shia Muslims not to celebrate Eid according to the Shia calendar but instead on dates set by the Taliban. In one province, representatives of the Taliban’s Hajj and Endowments Directorate detained a group of Shia clerics who refused to observe Eid al-Fitr on the Taliban-designated date. In Kabul, the Morality Police barred women from entering a shrine during Nowruz celebrations while permitting male visitors entry. In Herat, in January, the Morality Police banned women from attending evening prayers at a Shia mosque.
Taliban Courts and the Enforcement of the Group’s Penal Code
UNAMA reported that the Taliban’s Supreme Court has distributed its penal code to all affiliated institutions by official circular. The law specifies offenses for which the death penalty may be applied “in the public interest” and “with the permission of the Taliban Supreme Leader.”
Under the penal code, “severe beating” of a wife by her husband resulting in “fractures or injuries” or “bruising of the body” is prohibited and carries a punishment of 15 days in prison. The code also stipulates that if a woman repeatedly visits her parents or other relatives “without the permission of her husband” or “without a legitimate religious justification” and remains there, and if her relatives fail to “return her to her husband” after a court ruling, both the woman and those who prevented her return face a three-month prison sentence.
The Taliban law designates Sunni doctrine as the dominant religious creed and classifies all other beliefs as “heresy.” It also criminalizes criticism of the Taliban and its policies. Deliberately mocking Islamic rituals as defined by the Taliban carries a two-year prison sentence. Insulting the Taliban Supreme Leader is punishable by six months in prison and 20 lashes. Failing to report anti-Taliban opposition meetings to the group carries a two-year sentence.
UNAMA noted that under the law, religious scholars and elites may face penalties such as warnings, court summonses, and formal recommendations, while people from the middle and lower classes risk flogging and imprisonment.
On January 20, the Taliban issued an official circular allowing individuals accused by the group to be held for up to ten days in the custody of the Taliban administration’s Ministry of Interior or its General Directorate of Intelligence. Taliban courts may grant an additional five-day extension upon request; if further investigation is still needed after that extension, it must be conducted jointly with a Taliban court.
On January 28, the Taliban’s Ministry of Justice announced on X that opposing the group’s laws is tantamount to opposing Sharia and carries legal consequences. The statement asserted that all Taliban laws are drafted and reviewed by the group’s scholarly committees, the Ministry of Justice, the Supreme Court, and the office of the Taliban Supreme Leader, based on the Quran, the Sunnah, and Hanafi jurisprudence, before being approved by the Taliban Supreme Leader. On that basis, the ministry declared that opposition or criticism of these laws has no scholarly foundation, constitutes a religious offense, and is subject to prosecution.
You can read the Persian version of this report here:
گزارش سهماهه یوناما؛ تداوم قتلها، بازداشتها و نقض گسترده حقوق بشر در افغانستان
