By Nazish Mehmood

The International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women is meant to be a global reminder of the long struggle toward gender equality. For Afghan women, it has become a day of mourning, a stark reflection of a reality defined by repression, exclusion, and the collapse of even the most basic guarantees of human dignity.

A statement released on 23 November 2025 by the Freedom Lantern Movement of Afghan Women captures this situation with alarming clarity. According to the group, violence against women has effectively become “law” under the Taliban Regime, while discrimination has hardened into the culture of governance. Their words reflect a lived experience in which Afghan women have been pushed into a state of silent suffering, denied their rights, and subjected to a system built on fear.

The Taliban Regime’s Systematic Assault on Women’s Rights

A Governance Model Built on Exclusion

Since August 2021, when the Taliban Regime took control of Afghanistan, it has enforced an uncompromising architecture of repression aimed at erasing women from public life. Schools that once promised opportunity for Afghan girls were abruptly closed, with shifting and unconvincing explanations given for their continued lockout. Women who held vital positions in government ministries, universities, civil society organizations, and the private sector were dismissed without recourse. The Regime imposed restrictions on mobility, demanding that women be accompanied by a male guardian and instructing authorities to punish even minor deviations from these rules. Public spaces, from parks to sports facilities to cultural centers, were gradually closed to women, leaving them confined to their homes and stripped of the social freedoms that anchor a healthy society.

This was not a chaotic accumulation of reactionary decisions; it was a coherent system designed to ensure that women remained invisible. The Freedom Lantern Movement describes this as a deep, systematic, and unprecedented form of repression, one that aligns with the growing global consensus that Afghanistan under the Taliban Regime has become the world’s leading example of gender apartheid.

Violence Enforced as Law

The group’s statement asserting that violence has become “law” in Afghanistan under the Taliban Regime is not hyperbolic. Although the Regime rarely codifies its edicts in formal legal language, its governance relies on coercion. Women face arbitrary detention for alleged dress-code violations, endure intimidation and humiliation at checkpoints, and experience physical punishment for appearing in public without a male guardian. Enforcement squads loyal to the Regime monitor women’s movements, question their presence in public, and exert pressure aimed at breaking resistance. Violence is not incidental; it is the operational method through which the Regime enforces its ideology. In every sense, it has become the law of the land, unwritten, unpredictable, and omnipresent.

The Criminalization of Female Existence

Life Under a Regime that Restricts Even the Right to Breathe

One of the most striking phrases in the Freedom Lantern Movement’s statement says that Afghan women have lost “even the simple right to breathe freely.” This is not mere rhetorical flourish. Under the Taliban Regime’s rules, women must fully cover themselves, sometimes to the extent that their own breath becomes trapped beneath layers of fabric in Afghanistan’s extreme climate. The Regime’s strict dress codes are enforced not through education or persuasion but through fear of punishment. Women who step outside their homes face the threat of interrogation, harassment, and in some cases, detention for failing to meet standards that the Regime refuses to define clearly. This ambiguity is intentional, allowing the Regime broad discretionary power to punish women whenever it chooses.

Restrictions do not end at clothing or mobility. Beauty salons, which provided one of the few remaining sources of income for Afghan women, were forcibly shut down in 2023, plunging tens of thousands into unemployment. Recreational spaces where women once gathered to socialize or exercise were closed. Even humanitarian assistance, lifesaving in a country enduring severe economic crisis, has been hindered by bans on female aid workers. The cumulative effect is suffocating. Afghan women describe their daily existence as one of constant fear, hyper-vigilance, and the knowledge that their presence alone can provoke punishment.

Discrimination Manufactured into Culture

The Freedom Lantern Movement notes that discrimination has now become culture in Afghanistan under the Taliban Regime. However, this discriminatory environment is not an organic reflection of Afghan society. It is a manufactured culture imposed from above, enforced by a political leadership that equates control over women with religious piety and moral virtue. This deliberate construction of misogyny as a cultural norm aims to delegitimize women’s aspirations, silence dissent, and reshape social expectations.

As this ideology spreads, Afghan families who believe in education, equality, and pluralism find themselves powerless. Men who support women’s rights are monitored or threatened, creating an environment where fear discourages advocacy. The Regime seeks not only to control women physically but also to reshape the moral imagination of Afghan society, replacing pluralistic traditions with a rigid worldview that isolates women and normalizes their subjugation.

The Social Collapse Triggered by the Taliban Regime

The Taliban Regime’s treatment of women has not only violated fundamental rights; it has also fractured Afghan society. Institutions that rely heavily on female participation, such as schools, clinics, community organizations, and development projects, are collapsing. Humanitarian operations, essential in a country facing hunger, displacement, and unemployment, have been severely disrupted due to restrictions on female staff. The Regime’s policies undermine the very foundations of a functioning society by excluding half of its population from participation and leadership. Afghanistan cannot progress, stabilize, or rebuild when women are systematically sidelined.

The Regime often attempts to frame its policies as rooted in cultural or religious tradition, yet these claims hold little weight when examined alongside broader Islamic scholarship. No major Muslim-majority country or credible religious authority endorses such a harsh interpretation of gender roles. The Regime’s approach is not an expression of Afghan culture but an extremist ideology masquerading as tradition.

The Urgent Need for International Accountability

In its statement, the Freedom Lantern Movement calls on the international community to break its silence and stop relying on conventional diplomatic engagement with the Taliban Regime. Dialogue without consequences has yielded no improvements in women’s rights; instead, the Regime has used global fatigue and geopolitical complexity to entrench its oppressive framework. Afghan women warn that silence enables abuse and inaction strengthens authoritarianism. They stress the necessity for accountability mechanisms, targeted pressure, and support for women-led networks that continue to resist both inside and outside Afghanistan.

The global stakes are clear. If the Taliban Regime’s gender apartheid is allowed to solidify, it sets a dangerous precedent for other extremist movements. The world’s response, or its failure to respond, will determine whether gender repression becomes a normalized tool of governance beyond Afghanistan’s borders.

For Afghan women, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women is not an annual observance but a reminder of a daily struggle. Under the Taliban Regime, they face a system where violence is the norm, discrimination is institutionalized, and rights are stripped away with impunity. Yet despite the risks, Afghan women continue to speak out, organize, resist, and assert their dignity. Their voices challenge a Regime built on silencing them. They remind the world that while repression may dominate Afghanistan’s political landscape, it cannot extinguish the courage and resilience of those who refuse to accept a life defined by fear.