Introduction
This report provides a critical analysis of the human rights situation in Afghanistan during the first six months of 2025. It specifically documents violations of civil and political rights, with a focus on the plight of women and vulnerable ethnic and religious groups. Based on firsthand data, including interviews with victims, survivors, and eyewitnesses, this report examines the patterns of human rights abuses in Afghanistan in the first half of 2025 and their profound impact on the lives of ordinary citizens.
The report’s findings indicate that while some forms of violence—such as casualties from suicide attacks and explosions—have decreased, the number of targeted and extrajudicial killings has increased by approximately 30% in the first half of 2025, compared to the same period in 2024.
Former government employees, journalists, human rights defenders, and anyone accused of cooperating with anti-Taliban groups remain the primary targets of extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, and torture.
The human rights situation for women deteriorated significantly during this period as the Taliban escalated organized discrimination and restrictions to suppress their fundamental rights and freedoms. These actions include new oral decrees from “Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice” (PVPV) officials, requiring a mahram and specific hijab for girls in primary schools, shutting down informal learning centres for women, and restricting women’s access to public and religious spaces. Under international law, these systematic and discriminatory policies may constitute the crime against humanity of gender persecution.
Evidence also shows a notable increase in violations of citizens’ right to liberty and personal security across the country, fuelled by the so-called “Vice and Virtue” law. The Taliban are widely and arbitrarily detaining people based on their clothing, beard and hair length and for listening to music and speaking to members of the opposite sex and other charges. There is an twofold increase in number of arbitrary arrests in the first 6 months of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024.
Furthermore, the report’s findings indicate that the Taliban have violently suppressed protest gatherings, arresting, imprisoning, and even killing demonstrators. This reflects a growing climate of fear and a deliberate policy to silence dissent and restrict civil action.
Taliban courts have also extensively ordered a range of cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishments, including executions, stoning, physical beatings, and humiliating public shaming by blackening the faces of the accused. There has been a twofold increase in number of physical punishments compared to the first 6 months of 2024.
Vulnerable ethnic and religious groups continue to face discrimination in access to jobs, government services, humanitarian aid, and national resources. The de facto authorities (DFA) have also imposed severe restrictions on religious freedom, suppressing diverse beliefs and even forcing members of religious minorities to convert to Hanafi Islam.
We hope that the international community, the United Nations, human rights organizations, and the de facto authorities will seriously consider the findings and recommendations in this report. It is imperative that they take practical and effective steps to protect human rights and ensure dignity for all Afghan citizens.
The report has been written in Dari/Farsi with testimonies in Dari and Pashto and is translated to English.
Data Collection Methodology
In the first half of 2025, Rawadari continuously documented human rights violations by collecting information from a wide range of local sources in 32 provinces. Our sources include victims, their relatives, eyewitnesses, civil activists, journalists, teachers, government employees, lawyers, and national and international organizations. Rawadari observers used questionnaires and conducted direct interviews—either by phone or in person—to gather detailed monthly reports on human rights violations, while strictly adhering to research and security protocols.
Rawadari’s research and documentation team directly supervised the information-gathering process, providing continuous guidance to local observers and meticulously verifying all data collected. Once verified, we stored this information in a secure electronic system. We also gathered supporting evidence, such as written documents, images, and other records, and cross-referenced them with interviewee testimonies. Therefore, this report is based on credible, confirmed information from multiple sources. We excluded any cases where we could not obtain sufficient evidence due to challenges on access to information.
We also used findings from previous reports by Rawadari and other human rights organizations as supplementary evidence to enrich our analysis. We analysed the data using a qualitative and comparative approach to identify shared patterns of human rights violations across the three main sections: civil and political rights, women’s rights, and the rights of vulnerable ethnic and religious groups. We compared data from the first half of 2025 to the same periods in 2024 and 2023.
It is important to note that a decrease in some of the statistics presented in this report does not necessarily mean the situation has improved. It may be due to the growing challenges we face in collecting information due to the increasing restrictions on human rights documentation. Our goal is not simply to provide statistics, but to offer a fact-based and accurate picture of the current human rights situation information.
Obstacles to access to information
During this reporting period, the Taliban imposed stricter and more systematic restrictions on access to information compared to the first half of 2024. The General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI_ actively monitors the activities of media, civil activists, human rights defenders, and even social media users. Anyone who publishes information about human rights violations faces potential identification, interrogation, and torture. This is part of a deliberate, nationwide policy to conceal human rights abuses, which not only prevents victims and their families from accessing justice but also severely limits Rawadari’s ability to fully and impartially document these events.
The de facto authorities have repeatedly ordered all their departments to share no information with media or anyone else without explicit permission from a higher authority. They have strictly banned employees from using smartphones with cameras, particularly in the southwest region (Farah, Helmand, Kandahar, Nimruz and Zabul). They have also systematically dismissed remaining employees from the previous government to control the flow of information.
Additionally, according to an official letter obtained by Rawadari, the Taliban explicitly told government employees to avoid any cooperation or interviews with exiled media. The Taliban’s Information and Culture Directorates in Parwan and Nangarhar provinces have warned local journalists that if they cooperate with exiled media, they will be arrested and imprisoned by the GDI. Civil society activists and human rights defenders are also strictly forbidden from expressing any opinions that might offend the Taliban. Over the past six months, Rawadari has documented cases where the Taliban arrested and tortured human rights defenders and journalists who defied this order, accusing them of “spying for foreigners”.
Local media outlets must publish only the information approved by the Taliban’s Information and Culture Directorate and avoid any “unapproved” news or reports. This has led to widespread self-censorship and the concealment of many human rights violations that occur daily.
Furthermore, the Taliban force prisoners, especially torture survivors, to sign a written commitment not to speak to anyone about their experiences in prison, threatening re-arrest and torture if they do. Human rights organizations and observers are denied access to prisons and detention centres, and officials in places of detention are strictly prohibited from providing any information to human rights organizations or media about the conditions of detention.
The Taliban are also extremely sensitive about release of any information about targeted and extrajudicial killings. They directly threaten the families and relatives of victims to prevent them from sharing any information. They also frequently check citizens’ phones at checkpoints to find and deliberately delete/hide information related to human rights violations.
The implementation of the “Vice and Virtue” law has also contributed to a pervasive climate of fear, leading to more silence around human rights abuses. Therefore, the information in this report may be limited compared to the actual cases of human rights violations.
