Human Rights Watch Calls for Government Pressure on the Taliban

Photo: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo

Human Rights Watch has said in its annual report that the repression of women and girls in Afghanistan by the Taliban intensified in 2025, while the humanitarian crisis in the country worsened at the same time.

Human Rights Watch published the report on Wednesday (February 4).

The report states that in 2025 the Taliban imposed harsher restrictions on the lives of women and girls, and that the humanitarian crisis deteriorated due to a reduction in foreign aid and the forced return of millions of migrants.

Fereshta Abbasi, Afghanistan researcher at Human Rights Watch, said governments must pressure the Taliban to end what she described as “horrific abuses” and at the same time expand support for Afghan refugees and humanitarian assistance.

According to her, the Taliban’s relentless repression should push governments to seek accountability for those responsible for serious crimes in Afghanistan.

The report also says that in 2025 more than 22 million people in Afghanistan were at risk of food insecurity, with women and girls disproportionately affected.

Human Rights Watch stressed that no country should forcibly return Afghans who face the risk of persecution or threats to their lives, and called on United Nations member states to support the establishment and funding of a new investigative mechanism on Afghanistan.

These findings were published as part of Human Rights Watch’s World Report 2026.