Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: Nine in ten Afghan men own a national identity card. Fewer than four in ten women do. That gap determines who can own land, see a doctor, send children to school, and claim what a father left behind. In Afghanistan, all of it comes down to a single document called a Tazkira. Without one, none of it is legally possible. The Statelessness Encyclopedia Asia Pacific, published by the organization Nationality For All in August 2025, put the disparity plainly: roughly 90% of men hold a Tazkira, compared to about 40% of women. The gap is worst in rural and conservative areas, where cultural norms and restricted mobility place the document further out of reach for women than almost anywhere else. Afghanistan&#39;s government has made measurable progress on issuance. Its National Statistics and Information Authority has distributed approximately 17.1 million electronic ID cards since the program launched in 2018, according to an official NSIA statement on Dec. 29, 2025. But the distribution tells its own story: 10.6 million of those cards went to men. 6.4 million went to women. Against a national population exceeding 40 million, the numbers leave a significant portion of the country unregistered. A December 2025 UNHCR protection monitoring report found that 50% of surveyed households had at least one member with no documentation at all. Women and children recorded the highest rates of exclusion. An earlier UNHCR household assessment from May 2024 put the share of affected households at 55% nationally. This rose to 77% in Uruzgan and Hilmand provinces. The barriers keeping women from the system are not incidental, they are structural. Afghanistan&#39;s 2024 Law on the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice reinforced the requirement for women to be accompanied by a male guardian to travel. That requirement directly obstructs visits to ID distribution centers, particularly for widows and female-headed households who have no male relative available. Government offices are predominantly staffed by men, adding another layer of practical difficulty for women seeking to apply. Then there is the cost. The fee for an electronic Tazkira was raised fivefold, from 100 Afghani to 500 Afghani. This follows a Taliban cabinet directive in April 2023, according to NRC&#39;s March 2026 briefing. Replacements and corrections now carry a fee of 1,000 Afghani. For families among Afghanistan&#39;s 22 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, those amounts force a calculation: which family members get documented, and which do not. UN Women reported in August 2025 that 76% of Afghan women face disparities in financial and social inclusion. The documentation gap sits at the root of much of that exclusion &mdash; blocking access to employment, banking, and legal services simultaneously. The consequences are not abstract. Without a tazkira, a woman returning home after years of displacement has no legal standing to reclaim property. Land taken by others cannot be contested. Inheritance cannot be asserted. NRC&#39;s March 2026 briefing describes families arriving back in Afghanistan to find their homes occupied and no legal avenue available to them. The 2025 return wave made all of this more acute. More than 2 million Afghans came back from neighboring countries during the year, many arriving without any paperwork. The agency described the situation as having reached a critical level. The women returning without documents are entering a country where the women who never left are already, on paper, largely invisible.

This photograph taken on February 17, 2026 shows an Afghan hospital medic, who studied public relations and journalism before universities were closed to women, standing next to a window inside a house in Afghanistan. (AFP)

Afghanistan

A wide gender gap in Afghanistan’s ID system leaves many women without legal status, limiting access to healthcare, education, property, and jobs, while structural barriers and costs deepen exclusion.

Afghan women locked out as ID gap blocks rights nationwide

ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan Women&rsquo;s Rights Watch says it documented 411 cases of rights violations against women and girls in Afghanistan in 2025, including nearly 300 incidents described as &ldquo;direct violence against women&rdquo; allegedly attributed to the Taliban, according to the group&rsquo;s annual report released this week. The report, titled From Marginalization to Erasure, was launched on Saturday, Feb. 14, in Kayseri, Turkiye, during an event attended by academics, civil society representatives, and Afghan and Turkish women&rsquo;s rights activists. The launch was organised in cooperation with the Turkiye-based ARSA Association. According to the organization, the findings were compiled from victims&rsquo; testimonies and cross-referenced with multiple credible international documents. Killings and suicidesThe report recorded at least 76 cases described as &ldquo;intentional killings&rdquo; of women and girls in 2025, though it did not specify the alleged perpetrators. The highest number of cases 16 was reported in Nangarhar Province. Researchers also documented more than 30 cases of suicide and self-immolation among women and girls over the past year, raising concerns about worsening mental health conditions and social pressures facing women under current restrictions. Allegations of abuse in detentionThe report further cited at least three cases of sexual violence in Taliban detention centers, including two incidents reported in Balkh Province. The Taliban authorities have not publicly responded to the report&rsquo;s findings. Calls for international actionZakera Hekmat, head of Afghanistan Women&rsquo;s Rights Watch, said during the launch event that addressing systematic violence against Afghan women is not solely a domestic matter but a global responsibility. She criticized what she described as the silence and inaction of the international community in response to continuing violations of women&rsquo;s fundamental rights during nearly four years of Taliban rule. Hekmat warned that continued inaction risks reinforcing policies that exclude women from Afghanistan&rsquo;s social, educational, and political life. Bulut Reyhanoglu, a Turkish filmmaker and global solidarity ambassador advocating for Afghan women, said the systematic exclusion of Afghan women from public life has created what he termed a &ldquo;gender crisis&rdquo; extending beyond Afghanistan&rsquo;s borders. He urged the international community to move beyond diplomatic engagement and take practical steps to protect Afghan women&rsquo;s fundamental rights, warning that continued silence could normalize gender-based oppression and discrimination. Afghanistan&rsquo;s Taliban-led administration has faced sustained international criticism over restrictions on women&rsquo;s education, employment, and participation in public life since returning to power in 2021.

Women and children who have returned to Afghanistan, wait to be seen at a maternity clinic (Photo: UNFPA)

The report records at least 76 cases described as “intentional killings” of women and girls in 2025, though it did not specify the alleged perpetrators. The highest number of cases are 16 reported in Nangarhar Province.

Annual report details killings, abuse of women under Taliban rule

ISLAMABAD: The Taliban in Afghanistan increased repression of women and girls in 2025 and imposed new restrictions limiting media freedom, Human Rights Watch said in its World Report 2026 released on Tuesday. &ldquo;Governments need to press the Taliban to end their&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/afghanistan-bans-women-from-heavy-labour-in-nuristan-province" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">horrific abuses</a>,&rdquo; said Fereshta Abbasi, an Afghanistan researcher at HRW.&nbsp; &ldquo;The Taliban&rsquo;s unrelenting repression should push governments to support efforts to hold all those responsible for serious crimes in Afghanistan to account.&rdquo; In its 36th edition, the 529-page World Report 2026 reviewed human rights practices in more than 100 countries.&nbsp; Executive Director Philippe Bolopion wrote in the report&rsquo;s introductory essay that breaking the global wave of authoritarianism is &ldquo;the challenge of a generation.&rdquo;&nbsp;&lsquo;Gender apartheid&rsquo;HRW said the Taliban issued new laws restricting women&rsquo;s freedom of movement and access to public spaces, while enforcing existing bans on post-primary education and limitations on employment, abuses United Nations experts have called &ldquo;gender apartheid.&rdquo;&nbsp; In July, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for senior Taliban leaders for the crime against humanity of gender persecution.&nbsp; On Oct. 6, the UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution creating an independent mechanism to investigate past and ongoing human rights abuses in Afghanistan.&nbsp;&lsquo;Morality&rsquo; lawsThe report also detailed new restrictions on media freedom, arbitrary detentions of critics, and arrests for alleged violations of &ldquo;morality&rdquo; laws, including improper hijab use or failing to maintain separate workplace facilities for men and women.&nbsp; HRW noted that fewer&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/afghanistan-revokes-licenses-of-media-journalists-due-to-unprofessionalism" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">journalists</a>&nbsp;were working due to foreign aid cuts and Taliban policies. The organization urged governments to continue pressuring the Taliban to end human rights violations.

Human Rights Watch says the Taliban issued new laws restricting women’s freedom of movement and access to public spaces, while enforcing existing bans on post-primary education and limitations on employment, abuses United Nations experts have called ‘gender apartheid.’

Articles tagged with "Women Rights in Afghanistan"

Afghan women locked out as ID gap blocks rights nationwide

Annual report details killings, abuse of women under Taliban rule

Taliban tighten restrictions on women, media in Afghanistan: HRW

Afghan women locked out as ID gap blocks rights nationwide