Over 6.5 Million Afghans Returned From Iran, Pakistan In Three Years, Says UN

The report said Afghanistan lacks a system for identifying trafficking victims and referring them to support services.

It said the recruitment and use of children in combat and support roles continued during the reporting period, along with the sexual exploitation of boys through the practice known as “Bacha Bazi”.

The US State Department said the Taliban reported no investigations, prosecutions or convictions of human traffickers and provided no information showing that victims had been identified or supported.

New Taliban decree and penalties deemed insufficient

Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada issued a decree around two years ago banning human trafficking and calling for such cases to be addressed.

According to the report, the decree prohibits human trafficking and provides prison sentences of between one and three years for first and subsequent offences.

However, the US State Department said Taliban authorities were not meeting the minimum standards required to eliminate human trafficking.

It said the decree does not provide a clear definition of human trafficking and that the penalties are not sufficiently stringent to deter the crime. The report also said some provisions appear to implicitly recognise concepts associated with slavery.

Legal experts have also raised concerns about the lack of clear definitions, the conflation of human trafficking with migrant smuggling, the absence of explicit protections for defence lawyers and reliance on confessions without sufficient safeguards against coercion.

Child recruitment and bacha bazi continue

The report said the Taliban and other armed groups continue to unlawfully recruit and use children in combat and support roles.

According to the US State Department, the Taliban uses coercion and deception to recruit children, some of whom are drawn from religious schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The report said groups including ISIS-K and the National Resistance Front also use children in direct fighting, transporting and planting explosives, carrying weapons, spying and guarding bases.

The US State Department also said that despite bacha bazi being formally prohibited, the practice continues and observers have reported the involvement of Taliban members.

Under the practice, boys, typically aged between 10 and 18, are subjected to sexual exploitation and used for entertainment.

According to the report, the Taliban has made no effective effort to protect victims of bacha bazi or end the practice.

Lack of adequate support for trafficking victims

The report said the Taliban had not reported identifying any trafficking victims or providing services to them, and that there were no regular and effective mechanisms for identifying victims and referring them to support centres.

According to the report, security forces sometimes detain potential victims, including children begging on the streets, without screening them for signs of trafficking.

Some child victims are also held in detention facilities alongside adults, exposing them to forced labour, physical violence and sexual abuse.

The US State Department said Taliban restrictions on non-governmental organisations, the ban on women working in most sectors and the detention of female employees for travelling without a mahram have made it more difficult to provide support services to victims.

A lack of funding and specialised facilities for adult victims were also identified as major problems.

The report also warned that Taliban corporal punishments for what it considers moral offences, including sex outside marriage, could discourage victims of sex trafficking from reporting abuse because they may themselves be punished for acts, they were forced to commit as a result of trafficking and exploitation.

However, the report noted that 58 children were released from Taliban ranks with the assistance of an international organisation.

Following discussions with the Taliban, the organisation helped secure the children’s release and supported their return to civilian life.

Growing vulnerability of women, children and migrants

The US State Department said women, men and children inside and outside Afghanistan are subjected to forced labour, debt bondage and sexual exploitation.

According to the report, trafficking within Afghanistan is more widespread than cross-border trafficking.

Children are exploited in sectors including carpet weaving, brickmaking, domestic work, agriculture, mining, construction, begging, lorry driving and the trafficking of drugs and weapons.

The report added that some poor or indebted families sell their children to traffickers or force underage girls into marriage in exchange for money.

According to the US State Department, Taliban restrictions on the movement of women and girls and their access to education and employment have increased their vulnerability to exploitation.

Women, girls and families returning to Afghanistan from Iran and Pakistan, internally displaced people and those associated with the former government are also at greater risk.

The report said some Afghans pay intermediaries to help them find work in countries including Iran, Pakistan, Türkiye and European states, but some of these intermediaries and employers force them into labour or sexual exploitation.

Afghan men and boys, particularly in agriculture and construction in Iran, Pakistan, Greece, Türkiye and Gulf countries, also face forced labour and debt bondage.

The report said some Afghan refugees in Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Türkiye, Europe and Central Asia do not report exploitation to authorities because they fear deportation to Afghanistan.

Lack of effective prevention measures

The US State Department said Taliban authorities had failed to take effective measures to prevent human trafficking.

According to the report, relevant authorities had neither maintained an inter-agency working group against trafficking nor effectively implemented a national action plan.

The report said that although the Taliban issued a decree during the previous reporting period declaring human trafficking illegal under Islamic law and ordering relevant authorities to coordinate, investigate cases and conduct public awareness activities, it provided no evidence that these measures had been implemented.

It also said there had been no effective action to prevent the unlawful recruitment of children or reduce demand for commercial sexual exploitation.

The US State Department said Taliban restrictions on the rights of women and minorities, as well as limits on the work of non-governmental organisations, had created conditions that increased the vulnerability of at-risk groups and obstructed support for trafficking victims.

Sources told Afghanistan International on Thursday, 8 October, that women had been prohibited from entering the exhibition grounds and that only men were allowed to attend the event.

According to the sources, several Indian and Iranian women who had been invited by their countries’ representatives to visit the exhibition or attend stands also faced restrictions imposed by Taliban personnel and were not allowed into different sections of the venue.

One source at the site said: “Afghan women are not even allowed into the exhibition grounds and can only watch from behind closed gates. Some Iranian women who were present at the venue were also not allowed to enter the stands.”

Sources said members of the Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice were stationed at the exhibition entrances and prevented women from entering. They said the restriction continued on the second day of the event.

The fifth national and international Imam Abu Hanifa Exhibition opened in Kabul on Wednesday, 7 October, with hundreds of domestic and foreign companies taking part. The seven-day event is being held at the Afghanistan International Exhibition Centre in Chaman-e-Hozori.

Meanwhile, Fawzia Koofi, a women’s rights activist and former Afghan MP, criticised the Taliban’s treatment of women at the exhibition and said several women had been detained during the event.

Koofi said the Taliban were portraying the exhibition as a success while women had not only been denied the right to have independent stands, but some had also been beaten and detained.

She also criticised the presence of foreign officials and guests at the exhibition, asking whether they would accept such treatment of women in their own countries.

Koofi added that the continued participation of foreign figures and delegations in such events risked legitimising and normalising policies that exclude women from public life.

The Taliban has not yet responded to reports that women were barred from the Imam Abu Hanifa Exhibition or to allegations that women were detained and mistreated.

The Indian and Iranian embassies have also not yet commented on the reports.

Public hearings of the People’s Tribunal for Women of Afghanistan were held last year in Madrid, Spain, beginning on 8 October and concluding on 10 October. Prosecutors presented an indictment, while Afghan women and girls testified as victims of Taliban rule.

Speaking on Thursday at an event marking the first anniversary of the tribunal, Calvet said it was a civil society initiative created from within society and centred on people rather than governments.

She said the tribunal nevertheless followed the formal structure of a court, including prosecutors, judges, witnesses and the issuing of a judgement.

According to Calvet, the tribunal’s panel of judges and experts came from a range of professional backgrounds, including law, psychology, journalism and Islamic law.

She added that gender-based violence was examined as a criminal matter rather than a cultural issue.

Calvet said the hearings were held in Madrid and the tribunal heard testimony from 24 Afghan women living both inside and outside Afghanistan.

She said organisers sought to include women from different ethnic groups and social backgrounds to make the process as inclusive as possible.

The tribunal judge also stressed that some witnesses faced security risks. Although the Taliban did not participate in the hearings, she said the group was monitoring the proceedings, creating risks for some of those who testified.

Calvet said initiatives of this kind were important for advocacy and for strengthening confidence in the law at a time when concerns were growing over the state of international law.

She said developments in Afghanistan amounted to a system of laws, decrees and structures that systematically targeted women and girls.

Calvet added that Afghan women had also used the term “gender apartheid” during the Taliban’s first period in power in the 1990s, saying the situation was not a new phenomenon.

She reiterated that the tribunal treated gender-based violence as a criminal matter rather than a cultural issue.

The tribunal says its aim is to draw global attention to the targeted repression of Afghan women and girls under Taliban rule, document crimes against humanity, particularly gender-based discrimination and persecution, and increase international pressure to hold the Taliban accountable.

Iranian Energy Minister Abbas Aliabadi met Nooruddin Azizi, the Taliban’s minister of industry and commerce, on Wednesday, 7 October, after attending the Imam Abu Hanifa International Exhibition in Kabul.

The Taliban’s Ministry of Industry and Commerce said in a statement that the two discussed Iranian electricity exports to Afghanistan, the supply of equipment needed for power plants and desalination facilities, expanded economic relations and joint investments.

According to the statement, the talks included increasing Iran’s electricity exports to Afghanistan to about 2,000 megawatts and exporting equipment required for Afghanistan’s power generation sector.

Aliabadi also invited Azizi to attend Iran’s water and electricity exhibition, which is due to be held in the coming months. Azizi welcomed the invitation and stressed his support for expanding joint economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.

Iran currently exports about 100 to 150 megawatts of electricity to Afghanistan, with much of the supply distributed in the country’s western provinces. Iranian officials have previously said exports could rise to about 2,000 megawatts if the necessary infrastructure and capacity are developed.

However, Iranian electricity exports to Afghanistan have not always been stable in recent years, with supplies reduced or completely halted on some occasions.

Tehran and the Taliban have increased contacts in recent months over economic, trade and energy cooperation. Expanding trade, joint investment, energy exports and the supply of equipment needed in Afghanistan have been among the main areas of cooperation.

Alongside his meeting with the Taliban’s industry and commerce minister, Aliabadi also met Mohammad Younus Akhundzada, the Taliban’s minister of water and energy. They discussed cooperation in energy production, transmission and distribution, as well as investment opportunities in Afghanistan’s energy sector.

Iran is discussing increased electricity exports to Afghanistan while facing power shortages of its own. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has previously spoken about the country’s energy situation and the need to manage consumption and expand electricity generation capacity.

Taliban police released a video on Wednesday, 7 October, saying the four men, residents of Panjshir and Kapisa, had been arrested in three different areas of Kabul with military equipment and explosives.

The police claimed the detainees had been involved in multiple crimes and had recently planned to use explosives to target the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, or UNAMA, and its staff.

The video also showed purported confessions by the detainees, with the Taliban claiming they had admitted to the alleged offences.

The National Resistance Front of Afghanistan rejected the allegations. In a statement on Wednesday, the group said those shown in the Taliban video identifying themselves as NRF members were Taliban intelligence operatives and described the footage as part of a conspiratorial strategy of defamation and intelligence propaganda.

The NRF said the purpose of releasing the video was to create distrust between the group and the international community.

It also said that under its military principles and guidelines, attacks on civilians and domestic or foreign civilian institutions are prohibited, and that its operations target only the Taliban and groups allied with it.

The NRF called on UNAMA, the UN political mission in Kabul, to independently investigate and question the detainees, saying it was prepared to respond to any evidence or concerns that might emerge.

The group also warned that such videos could be used to prepare the ground for future attacks that might then be blamed on Taliban opponents. It urged diplomatic missions and international organisations to strengthen their security measures.

It remains unclear under what circumstances the Taliban’s special police obtained the statements from the detainees. The Taliban has also presented no evidence establishing a connection between the men and the National Resistance Front.

The United Nations has previously accused the Taliban of obtaining forced confessions through torture.

In a 2023 report, the UN documented what it described as widespread torture of detainees, particularly during arrest and interrogation. The report said the Taliban had used torture to extract confessions and called on the group to end torture and other cruel treatment.