Shokofa Safari, a 28-year-old former Afghan National Army officer, has alleged that Taliban members gang-raped her over two nights while she was detained in Kabul, according to an interview with Rukhshana Media.
Safari, who served in security and operational missions in Kabul, Nimruz, and Helmand provinces before the Taliban’s 2021 takeover, said she was arrested at her home in western Kabul on August 31, 2021. She described enduring “brutal” torture during her detention.
Recounting the raid, Safari told Rukhshana Media: “It was 1 AM, I had barely fallen asleep, anxious and terrified, when pounding on the door jolted me awake. Six or seven armed men entered harsh-faced, in traditional Afghan clothes, with dishevelled hair.” She said her five years of military service prompted her arrest.
Held for five days in a shipping container at Kabul’s District 13 police station under “inhumane conditions,” Safari alleged the worst abuse occurred at night.
“The first night was lashes and beatings, but on the second and third nights, their savagery knew no bounds. Three or four of them attacked and gang-raped me,” she said, claiming her assailants called her an “infidel Hazara and a whore” and justified the assault as punishment.
Photographs provided to Rukhshana Media showed lash marks, extensive bruising, bite marks, and other signs of beating on her body. Safari said she was released after her family paid the Taliban 200,000 Afghanis. The trauma silenced her for nearly four years.
This is not the first report of sexual violence in Taliban custody. In February 2025, 10 women told Afghanistan International that they experienced sexual assault or harassment while detained.
Eight reported rape, and two said Taliban officials filmed them naked during interrogations. Richard Bennett, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, confirmed to Afghanistan International that investigations into these allegations were underway.
