A hijab inspection, a slap, a warning letter: Inside three months of Taliban rule
Three Months Under the Taliban: Daily Life Transformed
Qinilo.com – For Afghan citizens navigating spring 2026, ordinary moments have become potential encounters with authority. A woman purchasing groceries without accompaniment may find the shopkeeper slapped and questioned. A teacher might be denied entry to her own classroom simply for wearing an incorrect cloak. These occurrences, documented extensively by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), represent the new normal rather than exceptional events.
Restrictions on Women’s Movement and Appearance
Between April and June of this year, UN human rights monitors tracked numerous enforcement actions targeting women’s public presence. At least thirty women faced arrest in Herat during early June specifically for what officials deemed “improper hijab” attire. The de facto Ministry of Hajj and Religious Affairs subsequently declared that hijab observance would dominate Friday sermons beginning 19 June.
Imams received detailed guidance through a ten-page directive specifying that proper head covering must envelop the entire body while leaving only the eyes visible. The garment should be loose-fitting, substantial in thickness, and free from decorative elements or scents.
Shops and medical facilities received orders prohibiting women from entering without a male guardian, known as a mahram. This requirement applied even to establishments in Kandahar city specializing in cosmetics and women’s products.
In Logar province, a woman received a verbal caution for shopping alone while the male shopkeeper was slapped and transported to the local Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice Office. He was freed hours later after community elders intervened and he signed a pledge promising not to serve unaccompanied women going forward.
Legal Changes and Education Barriers
April brought a new Code on Judicial Separation of Spouses that ties a woman’s marital status to her guardian’s consent. The decree simultaneously “implicitly sanctions child marriage” and creates “extreme obstacles” for women pursuing divorce, according to the UNAMA assessment.
Since 7 September 2025, Afghan women have been prohibited from accessing United Nations facilities across the country. This ban encompasses staff members, contractors, and visitors alike, reaching 296 consecutive days by 30 June.
Higher education remains closed to women and girls following the December 2022 prohibition. While public university entrance examinations occurred nationwide during May and June, participation was exclusively male, with 120,000 prospective students registering and zero women or girls taking part.
Taliban civil servants from the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice Office conducted school inspections during this period. In Herat, female educators lacking a full-body chador were barred from a girls’ school and cautioned about potential job loss.
Arrests, Punishments, and Targeted Groups
UNAMA recorded at least 389 arbitrary arrests and detentions alongside 65 cases of ill-treatment executed by de facto virtue office personnel. Most violations concerned alleged hijab infractions for women, trimmed beards or “Western” hairstyles for men, and music playing or listening.
Judicial corporal punishments numbered at least 137 during the reporting window, comprising 112 men and 25 women. Public floggings addressed offenses including breaking Ramadan fasts and illicit relationships.
Former government officials and Afghan National Defence and Security Forces members continued facing heightened risks. The report identified 29 arbitrary arrests and detentions, five torture and ill-treatment cases, and eight killings of former security personnel between 1 April and 30 June.
Former officials and security personnel involuntarily repatriated to Afghanistan remain vulnerable to rights violations. One Herat case involved a former Afghan National Army officer who disappeared on the identical day he was forcibly returned from Iran.
Security Incidents and Religious Restrictions
A fatal assault on civilians picnicking before a Shia shrine in Herat on 10 April resulted in twelve deaths and fourteen injuries. No organization claimed responsibility for this attack.
Since January, authorities have shut down multiple Ismaili places of worship, called jamaat khana, throughout Badakhshan province and directed worshippers to cease using these facilities.
Additional constraints were imposed on Shia communities, further narrowing religious expression for minority groups under Taliban governance.
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