Tawus, a 26-year-old married woman from Daykundi, says a man allegedly backed by the Taliban is trying to force her into a second marriage, driving her into hiding to avoid arrest and coercion.
Tawus told Afghanistan International that she became engaged in 2020 and married her husband in late 2025.
According to her, a few months after the marriage, “another man, who is Pashtun and armed”, entered their home and claimed that he was her real husband.
She said the Taliban court in Ashtarlay District arrested several of her relatives after the man filed a complaint.
The Taliban police command in Ashtarlay detained her father for 24 days from April 2 to April 27, her brother-in-law for 14 days from April 27 to May 10, and her father-in-law for four days.
Mawlawi Elham, Taliban judge in Ashtarlay district, confirmed the arrests in an interview with a local media outlet.
Tawus said the Taliban released her father-in-law on Wednesday, May 13, after local elders provided guarantees.
Local sources, speaking anonymously, said Taliban authorities had urged the woman’s family and the complainant to resolve the issue through local Hazara and Pashtun elders.
According to sources, the complainant said he would withdraw his case if Tawus’s family gave him another woman in marriage and paid 700,000 Afghanis.
Despite repeated attempts, Afghanistan International was unable to obtain the complainant’s comments. Local Taliban officials also did not respond to requests for comment.
Asked about the case, Judge Elham told Afghanistan International: “I don’t have time.”
Tawus said she is currently in hiding and has avoided appearing before the Taliban court out of fear that she would be detained and forced into another marriage.
She claimed the man accusing her has close ties to the Taliban and said that if she appeared in court, Taliban authorities would imprison her and force her into remarriage.
Local sources in Daykundi confirmed the complainant is a civilian with close ties to the Taliban. A former local official told Afghanistan International the man also maintained close relations with the Taliban during the previous government.
Tawus said the Taliban court had not asked the complainant to provide any evidence supporting his claims and had instead pressured only her and her family.
“If this man truly married me, he should provide documents, witnesses and bring the cleric who performed the marriage,” she said.
Documents submitted by Tawus’s family to the Taliban court show that the “director of Rasul Akram Madrasa” signed and stamped her marriage certificate.
Tawus accused the Taliban court of ethnic bias, saying: “If there is no ethnic discrimination, why does this Pashtun man eats with the Taliban commander and judge, who are themselves Pashtun, while my family members are in prison?”
Unanswered Letters
Nader, Tawus’s father-in-law, wrote in a letter, a copy of which was obtained by Afghanistan International, to the Taliban intelligence office in Daykundi that the complainant had twice entered his home with a weapon, insulted women in the household and threatened them with death.
The letter stated that the man had “connections with government offices in Ashtarlay district” and was trying to extort money from Tawus’s family.
Habib, brother of Tawus, also wrote to the Taliban governor of Daykundi, saying that Tawus and her younger brother had worked in the complainant’s shop for nearly three months while studying in Nili city, earning 3,000 Afghanis.
Habib wrote that the complainant was now falsely claiming he had paid for Tawus’s education and pilgrimage expenses to Karbala in Iraq.
“These claims are false and dishonour a married woman,” he wrote, adding that his father remained imprisoned by the Taliban.
Habib asked the Taliban governor to cooperate and insisted the complainant should be held accountable for his allegations.
Another letter from a village local to the Taliban district governor stated: “I have no knowledge of any money allegedly paid by Asadullah to Jan Mohammad’s daughter (Tawus) or of him covering pilgrimage expenses.”
At the same time, 16 elders from Bidagh village wrote to the Taliban district governor describing the complainant’s marriage claim as “baseless and untrue”.
They urged the Taliban to stop arresting the bride and groom’s families, describing the matter as a “family honour issue”.
Tawus studied nursing in Nili, the capital of Daykundi province, but was unable to work in the field because of Taliban restrictions.
She confirmed that while studying, she and her brother worked for nearly three months in the complainant’s shop to cover expenses. She said the shop was located in a market where other men and women also worked.
Taliban Judge
Mawlawi Elham told local outlet that Tawus’s family, had to provide evidence disproving the man’s claim.
He said her relatives were imprisoned because “this is a criminal matter and, according to the complainant, why was a married woman given to another man?”
He also said Tawus had worked in the complainant’s shop and that the two had married. Addressing the fact that Tawus’s parents were unaware of any such marriage, he said: “Under Hanafi jurisprudence, parental consent is not required for marriage; two witnesses are sufficient.”
He stressed that until Tawus appears in court, the evidence and claims cannot be reviewed.
Regarding allegations that the complainant was armed and had threatened the woman’s family, the Taliban judge said security agencies should deal with that matter.
Tawus’s family says Taliban authorities are ignoring the documents and evidence they have submitted.
