Taliban Arrests Six Kabul University Students Over Alleged Promotion Of ‘Atheistic Ideas’

In a report released ahead of the fourth anniversary of the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, HRW warned that the group has intensified its repression of women and girls and continues to commit grave abuses with impunity. The report, titled “Afghanistan: Relentless Repression Four Years into Taliban Rule”, outlines a deteriorating human rights and humanitarian crisis.

“The fourth anniversary of the Taliban takeover is a grim reminder of the gravity of the Taliban’s abuses, particularly against women and girls,” said Fereshta Abbasi, HRW’s Afghanistan researcher. “The Taliban’s abhorrent acts should compel governments to support efforts to hold the Taliban leadership and all those responsible for serious crimes in Afghanistan to account.”

The report highlights the Taliban’s sweeping restrictions on women and girls, including bans on education, employment, participation in public life, and freedom of movement. HRW said these policies have also obstructed access to humanitarian aid and essential healthcare services.

HRW criticised the international community, particularly UN member states, for inaction. It recalled that in September 2024, a coalition of Afghan and international human rights groups urged the UN Human Rights Council to establish an independent international accountability mechanism for Afghanistan. Despite these calls, no such mechanism has been implemented.

The rights organisation is now urging the European Union to include in its upcoming annual resolution to the Human Rights Council a proposal for the creation of a comprehensive accountability mechanism for Afghanistan.

The report also underscores the worsening humanitarian situation. HRW described Afghanistan as facing one of the “world’s worst humanitarian crises,” exacerbated by cuts in donor funding and the mass deportation of Afghan migrants from neighbouring countries. Iran and Pakistan have expelled approximately two million Afghans in recent months, placing additional pressure on fragile aid operations.

HRW warned that reductions and suspensions in international aid, particularly from the United States, are having catastrophic consequences, especially for women and girls. The group noted a rise in malnutrition among children and the decline of online education programmes for women and girls, which had become a critical resource amid Taliban-imposed restrictions.

In Kabul, seven people were sentenced to between 10 and 30 lashes and received additional prison terms ranging from one to five years for alleged involvement in narcotics trafficking.

Separately, in Kapisa province, one individual was sentenced to one year and six months in prison and 39 lashes on charges of “propaganda against the regime.”

Azizur Rahman Haqqani, head of the Taliban’s appellate court in Kapisa, defended the corporal punishment, stating that “discretionary punishments in Islamic Sharia are carried out not only to reform the offender but also to serve as a lesson for others.”

The public floggings come despite repeated calls from international human rights organisations urging the Taliban to end the use of corporal punishment. The group, however, maintains that such actions are part of its strict interpretation and enforcement of Islamic Sharia law.

Since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban has reintroduced public punishments, including floggings and executions, drawing widespread international condemnation. Rights groups have warned that these practices violate international human rights standards and amount to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.

According to the court’s statement, seven of the accused were also sentenced to one year and eight months in prison. Six of the individuals received between 15 and 30 lashes, while the remaining seven were flogged between 10 and 25 times.

Public floggings have become a routine form of punishment under the Taliban’s justice system, drawing widespread condemnation from human rights organisations.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) reported in May that at least 180 people had been subjected to public punishment in various cities over a three-month period.

Since that report, dozens more individuals have been sentenced to flogging or imprisonment by Taliban courts on a range of charges.

The men were accused of selling various illegal substances, including tablet-K, crystal methamphetamine, cannabis. The Taliban’s primary court reportedly sentenced them to between one year and two years and six months in prison.

In addition to imprisonment, each individual received between 15 and 20 lashes. The Taliban Supreme Court’s statement, released Tuesday, did not clarify whether the flogging was carried out in public, a common practice under Taliban rule.

The Taliban frequently administer public corporal punishment, claiming it serves as a deterrent and helps reduce crime. The group maintains that such practices are part of enforcing what it describes as Islamic Sharia law.

Human rights organisations and international bodies have repeatedly urged the Taliban to end the use of corporal punishment and other forms of inhumane treatment. However, the group continues to defy these calls and has intensified such actions since returning to power in 2021.

In a statement posted Monday on X, Koofi said the Taliban’s claim of amnesty is not an effort at reconciliation but a calculated effort to silence critics. She warned that those returning to Afghanistan from neighbouring countries, particularly Iran, face serious threats despite promises of safety.

Koofi criticised certain individuals, including spouses of former foreign diplomats, for promoting what she called misleading narratives that Afghanistan is now safe. Without naming anyone directly, she said some continue to benefit from their previous roles while encouraging return, which she described as playing into the Taliban’s strategy.

Her comments follow recent remarks by Cheryl Benard, the wife of former US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, who called concerns about returning to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan “unfounded.” Benard had suggested Afghan parents worried about Taliban-led education could send their children to private schools and claimed that Afghan women continue to live and work normally.

Women’s rights advocates condemned those remarks, saying they contradict verified reports from international organisations and testimony from women affected by Taliban policies.

Koofi referred to a new report from the UN Human Rights Office, which confirms widespread arbitrary detention, torture, and threats to returnees, particularly those deported from Iran. She said the findings validate previous warnings from rights groups about the dangerous conditions awaiting deported Afghans.