UNAMA: Taliban Have Denied Women Without a Mahram Access to Shops and Healthcare
- Zan News
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) says in a new report that Taliban morality inspectors in several provinces have barred women without a male guardian, or mahram, from shopping, accessing healthcare and moving freely.
According to the report, published on Tuesday (28 July) and covering the human rights situation in Afghanistan from April to June 2026, the Taliban threatened and punished shopkeepers and healthcare workers for providing services to women without a mahram.
UNAMA says inspectors from the Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice visited several shops selling cosmetics and women’s products in Kandahar city on 2 May and instructed shopkeepers not to sell any goods to women without a mahram.
On 21 May, Taliban inspectors also visited a health centre in Deh Rawud district of Uruzgan and insisted that women without a mahram should not receive healthcare services. They also said female healthcare workers must be accompanied by a mahram during working hours.
UNAMA also documented a case in Logar in which Taliban inspectors warned a woman who had gone to the market without a mahram to buy food. The Taliban slapped the shopkeeper who had sold goods to her and detained him for several hours.
According to UNAMA, the shopkeeper was released following mediation by local elders and after signing a written pledge stating that he would no longer sell goods to women without a mahram.
In another incident in Badakhshan, Taliban inspectors questioned women who had gone shopping without a mahram for not wearing what they considered “proper hijab”. When a shopkeeper defended the women, the Taliban ordered his shop to be closed for three days and confiscated its key.
On the third day, when the shopkeeper went to retrieve the key, he became involved in an argument with Taliban officials, who detained him for several hours. He was released following the intervention of local elders.
The Taliban have severely restricted women’s freedom of movement, access to services and participation in public life during nearly five years of rule in Afghanistan. Women’s rights activists describe the Taliban’s policies against women and girls as “gender apartheid”.
