The United Nations secretary-general, in his latest quarterly report on Afghanistan, has warned that the country’s human rights situation continues to deteriorate, citing mounting civilian casualties, cross-border clashes and sweeping restrictions on women.
The 15-page report, which outlines the UN’s political, humanitarian and human rights efforts as well as key developments in the country, highlights the impact of unexploded ordnance (UXO) and ongoing violence on civilians. Over the past three months, UXO incidents alone killed 39 civilians – including seven men, two women, 26 boys and four girls – and injured 63 others.
One incident on June 6 in Kapisa province injured four children, including a nine-year-old boy, after they were playing with unexploded munitions. Separately, cross-border fighting between Taliban security forces and Pakistani troops on May 17 left eight people dead and 15 others wounded in Paktia and Khost provinces, the report noted.
On May 29, clashes in Khost’s Gurbuz district killed a girl and wounded three more people. Pakistan’s embassy in Kabul, however, told the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) that no such cross-border exchange of fire causing civilian casualties was recorded on either May 17 or 29.
The report also cited a July 1 mortar attack from across the border into Kunar province that killed one woman and injured a man and a boy.
Former officials targeted despite amnesty
UNAMA documented continued abuses against former government officials and members of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces, despite the Taliban’s declared “general amnesty.” These include four extrajudicial killings, nine arbitrary detentions and six cases of torture or ill-treatment over the reporting period.
The report also highlighted judicial corporal punishment carried out publicly by Taliban authorities.
New decrees tightening women’s restrictions
According to the report, the Taliban have further curtailed women’s rights, mandating full-body coverings, including face veils, and barring women from using public transportation without a male guardian. Women have also been instructed not to raise their voices in public.
In addition, the Taliban have slashed the monthly salaries of female civil servants who were employed under the previous republic to 5,000 Afghanis (around USD 70).
Taliban officials dismissed the report’s findings, calling its perspective “Western” and the criticisms “baseless.”
Growing concerns over gender apartheid
The report notes that Taliban decrees over the past three years have deeply affected daily life in Afghanistan and increasingly drawn accusations of “gender apartheid” from rights groups.
