Human Rights Watch said in its annual report that the Taliban expanded repression in 2025 by tightening restrictions on women and girls, increasing media controls and presiding over a deepening humanitarian crisis.
The watchdog said that it is while aid declined and migrants were expelled from neighbouring countries.
The report examines women’s and girls’ rights, corporal punishment, the treatment of people with diverse sexual orientation and gender identity, attacks on media and civil society, the situation of minorities, the economic and humanitarian crisis, and issues of justice and accountability.
Situation of Women and Girls
According to the report, the Taliban maintained the ban on girls’ education in 2025 and imposed further restrictions on women’s freedom of expression. It said the group’s morality police even barred women’s voices from being heard while reciting the Quran in public.
The report added that in September the Taliban banned the teaching of books written by women at universities and, through strict dress and behaviour rules, set up committees to monitor public spaces.
Corporal Punishment and Enforced Disappearances
Human Rights Watch said the Taliban carried out at least four executions last year in Nimroz, Badghis and Farah provinces. Citing the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, the report said 414 people, including 83 women, were publicly flogged during the same period.
The report also documented 31 cases of arbitrary arrest and detention and eight allegations of torture and ill-treatment of former government officials and former members of the security forces.
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
The group said LGBT people in Afghanistan faced systematic abuse in 2025, with Taliban authorities targeting them for arrest and exploitation.
Attacks on Media, Civil Society and Minorities
The report said the Taliban continued to restrict the media, arbitrarily detaining journalists and critics, and banning political programming and reporting on human rights violations.
Activists, academics, writers and artists were also targeted and face a serious risk of arrest and abuse, it said. The report cited several cases of arbitrary detention.
It also said Taliban members used physical violence and death threats to pressure about 50 members of the Ismaili community in Badakhshan to convert to Sunni Islam, while pressure on Hazaras and other minorities persisted.
Economic and Humanitarian Crisis
The report said Afghanistan’s economic and humanitarian crisis worsened in 2025 following sharp cuts in foreign aid, Taliban restrictions and the mass forced deportation of migrants from Iran and Pakistan.
More than 22 million people faced food insecurity last year, over 400 health centres closed because of funding shortages, and millions suffered from malnutrition and required urgent humanitarian assistance, it said.
Return of Migrants
More than two million Afghans were forcibly deported from Iran and Pakistan in 2025, the report said. Many returnees faced the risk of arrest, torture and ill-treatment after returning.
It added that the suspension of resettlement programmes in countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Canada left thousands of Afghan refugees in prolonged uncertainty.
Attacks on Civilians
Human Rights Watch referred to cross-border clashes between Taliban forces and Pakistani troops, saying fighting and Pakistani airstrikes last year killed and wounded civilians, including children, in eastern Afghanistan.
According to the report, the Islamic State group also claimed responsibility for several deadly attacks against civilians, including a suicide bombing at a bank in Kunduz province.
Justice and Accountability
Human Rights Watch said that in 2025 the United Nations Human Rights Council established an independent international accountability mechanism for Afghanistan, and the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for senior Taliban leaders on charges of crimes against humanity.
The report added that UNAMA’s mandate was extended last year, judicial investigations into alleged crimes by military forces continued in countries such as the UK, and international efforts to pursue accountability for systematic discrimination against Afghan women intensified in international courts.
