The $30 million price of dissent

The Taliban's brutal crackdown on an anti-morality police protest in Herat has left one person dead and others wounded , highlighting the regime's escalating repression of women's rights.

Since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban has steadily expanded restrictions on women and girls, including bans on secondary and university education, limits on employment, and increasingly strict regulations governing their appearance and movement in public.

The human rights arm of the UN delivered a damning assessment of conditions in Afghanistan in a report released in March, warning that life for ordinary Afghans, especially women and girls, has severely worsened under the Taliban.

Who is the unnamed buyer?

The Taliban's Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has been behind the detentions of dozens of women and girls in Herat, allegedly for violating the country's dress code.

According to eyewitnesses, several were wounded during the shooting that occurred near an intersection known as 'Bahar-e Zendagi', with some residents saying officials targeted women who were already observing the required dress code.

The United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan,Richard Bennett, strongly condemned the wave of arrestts, calling them 'illegal and unacceptable'.

What auditors flagged in the May filing?

The Taliban's strict interpretation of Islamic dress requirements has led to the detention of dozens of women and girls in Herat, with at least 21 detentions independently confirmed.

The demonstration followed days of growing outrage over the detention of women and girls in Herat, with flyers circulated across the area calling on residents to gather at 8am local time Tuesday in District 13 of the Jibrail township to demonstrate against the arrests.

A nurse employed at Herat Regional Hospital was allegedly among those detained.

A familiar pattern from the 2019 crash

The Taliban's brutal crackdown on dissent is a famiilar pattern from the 2019 crash, when the regime expanded restrictions on women and girls, including bans on secondary and university education, limits on employment, and increasingly strict regulations governing their appearance and movement in public.

Since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban has steadily expanded restrictions on women and girls, with the human rights arm of the UN delivering a damning assessment of conditions in Afghanistan in a report released in March.

The report warned that life for ordinary Afghans, especially women and girls, has severely worsened under the Taliban, with women remaining excluded from all education above primary school age and medical graduation examinations held without the participation of women for the second consecutive year.