Afghan Women Face New Era of Oppression

Afghanistan just made it legal for men to beat their wives and children, as long as they don’t break bones or leave open wounds.

Story Snapshot

Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada signed a new penal code in February 2026 that legalizes domestic violence against women and children
The code classifies spousal and parental beatings as discretionary punishment rather than crimes, permitting abuse that leaves no broken bones or open wounds
Women who leave home without male permission face up to three months in jail, and criticizing the code itself brings 20 lashes plus six months imprisonment
The law abolishes the 2009 EVAW law that protected women from rape, forced marriage, and domestic abuse, reversing two decades of human rights progress
Even in severe abuse cases, the maximum penalty is 15 days in prison, but only if victims can prove injuries while appearing in court fully covered with a male guardian present

From Protection to Property: How Afghanistan Reversed Course

Afghanistan’s 2009 Elimination of Violence Against Women law marked a watershed moment for human rights in the country. The legislation criminalized rape, forced marriage, and domestic abuse, imposing sentences ranging from three months to one year for offenders. Women gained legal recourse against violence that had flourished unchecked for generations. The U.S.-backed government championed these protections as essential to rebuilding Afghan society after decades of conflict. Yet the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021 began systematically dismantling these safeguards through a series of decrees that banned girls from secondary education, barred women from most employment, and restricted their movement without male guardians.

The new penal code represents the formal codification of what the Taliban practiced informally since seizing control. The 90-page document signed by supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada introduces a category called ta’zir, or discretionary punishment, which reclassifies domestic violence from a criminal act to a permissible form of discipline. The distinction matters enormously. Under ta’zir, husbands can beat wives and parents can beat children without legal consequence, provided the violence doesn’t cause broken bones or open wounds. Even when injuries cross that threshold, the maximum penalty stands at a mere 15 days in prison, a sentence that requires victims to navigate an impossible legal system stacked against them from the start.

The Impossible Path to Justice

Women seeking accountability for abuse face insurmountable barriers under the new code. They must appear in Taliban courts fully covered from head to toe, accompanied by a male guardian who may be the very person who abused them or a relative unwilling to challenge family honor. An anonymous legal adviser in Kabul told reporters the situation makes it impossible for women to obtain justice. The courts now operate under clerical authority, with religious judges interpreting the code’s provisions. The system assumes male authority over female lives, granting husbands property-like control over their wives while criminalizing women who attempt to flee abusive situations by leaving home without permission.

The code introduces a caste-based punishment system that adds another layer of injustice to an already discriminatory framework. Penalties vary based on the offender’s social status, distinguishing between “free” persons, clerics, and lower-class individuals. The ulama religious scholars receive preferential treatment, while working-class Afghans face harsher sentences for identical offenses. This stratification mirrors historical practices the Taliban admires, including references to slave versus free person distinctions that human rights groups have condemned as legitimizing slavery. The code even criminalizes critique of itself, imposing 20 lashes and six months imprisonment on anyone who publicly questions its provisions, plus a two-year sentence for journalists who fail to report dissent to authorities.

Economic Collapse and Gendered Consequences

The penal code arrives amid Afghanistan’s economic freefall, which has pushed 30 percent of primary school girls out of classrooms and driven desperate families toward child marriage as a survival strategy. Women face bans from most employment sectors, creating workforce gender gaps that deepen poverty. Healthcare access has collapsed for women, who cannot see male doctors under Taliban rules yet find female medical professionals barred from practice. The compounding restrictions create a closed system where women lack education, income, mobility, and legal protection simultaneously. Rights groups operating in exile report pervasive fear among Afghan women, who understand that speaking about the code violates the code itself.

International response has proven ineffectual despite urgent warnings. UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women Reem Alsalem called the code’s implications terrifying and posted on social media that no one will stop the Taliban. Rawadari, an exiled Afghan human rights organization, demanded immediate UN intervention to halt implementation, but the code remains active in courts across Afghanistan. The Feminist Majority Foundation describes the law as codifying violence, obedience, and gender apartheid. Georgetown Institute researcher Belquis Ahmadi characterizes it as legalizing slavery, violence, and repression against women. The Bush Center’s analysis notes the code ends legal equality and enables abhorrent domestic violence, yet these international voices carry no weight within Taliban-controlled territory.

https://t.co/NnbUsNo19H
Taliban rules domestic, sexual violence against women, children is legal
For a man to beat his wife or children is now classified as discretionary punishment, or “ta’zir,” and not a crime.

— trumpetfortheLord (@sheliadianehug1) February 20, 2026

The Formalization of Brutality

What distinguishes this penal code from previous Taliban practices is its formalization. During their 1996 to 2001 rule, the Taliban implemented brutal punishments through informal edicts and public spectacles but never codified domestic violence permissions into a comprehensive legal framework. The new code makes explicit what was previously implicit, transforming cultural practices into state-sanctioned law distributed to every court in the country. This formalization serves multiple purposes: it provides legal cover for abusers, eliminates any remaining ambiguity about women’s status under Taliban ideology, and signals to both domestic and international audiences that the movement’s gender policies represent permanent features rather than temporary measures. The code’s dissemination to courts in mid-February 2026 marks the final burial of post-2001 protections that briefly offered Afghan women hope for legal equality.