Sent to Zan TV Author: Farahnaz Froogh | Journalist I was a journalist. I lived through words and used my camera and pen to tell the stories of my people’s pain. But a day came when I became one of those people whose pain I was supposed to write about. The day Kabul fell, it felt as though I had lost more than a city. I lost my home, my streets, my friends, my memories and the sense of peace I thought I would always have. I left Kabul with tears in my eyes. When I separated from my family, I did not know whether this goodbye would last a few days, a few months, or perhaps forever. The sounds of those days are still alive in my mind, the sound of people crying, the sound of anxiety, the sound of footsteps that did not know where they were going. I was among that crowd too, a journalist who had spent years telling the stories of other people’s pain, but that day could not find any words to describe her own. It was extremely difficult and painful. Even more painful was that I had lost my sister in an explosion in Kabul’s sixth police district. Carrying her memories with me was very difficult. It is still hard for me to believe that the girl who once lived with us at home, laughed, spoke and was part of our lives is now present only in my memories. I was not able to hold her one last time. I could not tell her how much I loved her. Perhaps that is the most painful part of it all. War does not only kill people. Sometimes it also takes away a family’s chance to say goodbye. Now I am living in exile, while my sister rests beneath the soil of my homeland. Sometimes I think about where she would be today if that explosion had not happened. What would she be doing? Would her voice still fill the house? Would we still talk together about life and the future? None of these questions has an answer. That day, I understood that some kinds of pain cannot be told through words alone. I lost my sister, left my homeland and now live in exile, carrying memories that have each taken a part of my heart with them. Sometimes people think I have been saved because I escaped the war and insecurity. But no one asks what I carried with me when I left. I left Kabul, but Kabul never left me. Every night, a part of that city comes into my dreams, a street I used to walk through, the familiar voices of my family, the faces of my friends and the home that now exists only in my memories. Exile is not only about being far from a homeland. Sometimes it means waking up every morning and realising that the life you once knew no longer exists. I am still the same journalist, but this time the story I want to tell is my own. The story of a woman who lost her home. The story of a family separated from one another. The story of a generation forced to leave behind a world of memories with only a small suitcase. Sometimes I want to return to Kabul, not because I want to change the past, but simply to sit with my family once again and feel that there is still somewhere in this world where I belong. I left Kabul in tears... But I still hope that one day I will be able to remember Kabul without tears. Until that day, I live with my memories, write through my longing and try to survive. Perhaps one day my pen, instead of telling stories of collapse and escape, will write about return, peace and being reunited with family.

Image: © Ali Khara / Reuters The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) says women do not report abuse by Taliban forces because of fear of threats and retaliation, as well as distrust in Taliban institutions. UNAMA published a new report titled “Security Sector Accountability in Afghanistan” on Monday (10 August). The mission says that since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, it has monitored the human rights situation, security, the rule of law, and the treatment of people by Taliban police, intelligence forces and prison authorities. The report says that some public complaints about abuse by members of the group have remained unresolved and without follow-up. UNAMA says fear of threats and retaliation, alongside distrust in complaint mechanisms under Taliban rule, has led many victims not to report what happened to them. For women, the situation has become more difficult because of the absence or shortage of female officers who can hear their complaints. UNAMA has also documented cases in which Taliban military courts refused to accept complaints from people against members of the group’s forces. According to the report, Taliban military courts told some complainants not to return to court with allegations “against the mujahideen”. UNAMA warned that such treatment contributes to the continuation of an environment of impunity. The mission says the Taliban do not clarify what investigations have been carried out into many complaints, what conclusions were reached, or whether those responsible were actually held accountable. According to UNAMA, in many cases people do not know what happened to their complaints or what decisions were made. The report also expressed concern about the situation of women when pursuing cases of violence. UNAMA says it is unclear whether Taliban investigation procedures include specific measures to protect female victims and witnesses, or whether their particular circumstances and needs are taken into account when cases of violence against women are handled. UNAMA wrote that the Taliban’s Ministry of Interior and prison administration employ some female police officers and guards, but their exact number and duties remain unclear. It is also unclear whether these women are able to examine and investigate complaints from female victims or are employed only in routine duties. There is also no information available about the presence of female staff within Taliban intelligence. According to the report, Afghanistan remains obliged to comply with its international human rights commitments, including protecting the rights to life, liberty and security of individuals, and preventing torture and cruel or degrading treatment. UNAMA says that following the Taliban’s return, the constitution and a number of previous laws were abolished, and the group made Sharia the basis of its laws. UNAMA also said it is not aware of any specific decree by the Taliban leader guaranteeing victims’ right to know the truth, receive remedies and obtain compensation for the harm they have suffered. The mission called on the Taliban to establish safe, accessible and reliable complaint mechanisms so that women and men can report abuse by the group’s forces without fear of threats, retaliation or discrimination. UNAMA also called for the protection of victims, witnesses and individuals who report human rights violations.

Sent to ZAN TV Local sources in Herat report that a young man named Mohammad Noman, son of Abdul Rahman Moradi and a member of the family of Haji Arbab Shir Khan Alizai, a former member of the Herat Provincial Council, has been killed near the Taliban police headquarters in the province. According to the sources, Mohammad Noman was killed today, Monday (10 August), while passing near the entrance to the Taliban police headquarters in Herat. No official details have yet been released about how the incident occurred or the identity of the person or persons responsible. Residents of Herat say that such an incident occurring near one of the Taliban’s main security centres has increased their concerns about the security situation in the city. Some residents of the province say the Taliban have repeatedly claimed to have ensured security across Afghanistan since taking power, but concerns about killings, theft, kidnapping and other crimes remain part of people’s daily lives. According to Herat residents, security is not limited to the absence of war, and citizens should feel safe in markets, on roads, at workplaces and even near government centres. Local sources have called for the circumstances of the incident to be clarified and for the person or persons responsible to be identified. They say the victim’s family and the public have the right to know what happened and what steps the responsible authorities have taken to identify those responsible. Some Herat residents are asking how security can be ensured in other parts of the city if a citizen can be killed near a security centre. Taliban officials have so far provided no official explanation regarding the killing of Mohammad Noman or the details of the incident. The incident comes as security and the level of protection afforded to citizens remain among the concerns raised by people in parts of Afghanistan.

Sent to ZAN TV Ahead of the fifth anniversary of the Taliban’s return to power, the Movement of Empowered Afghan Women Residing in Iran says excluding women and girls from education, work, and social and political participation is a clear violation of human rights and a serious obstacle to peace and stability in Afghanistan. Members of the movement, in videos sent to Zan News, held a protest action in Iran and described 15 August 2021 as one of the darkest turning points in Afghanistan’s modern history. They said it was the day when the lives of millions of citizens, particularly women and girls, entered a new phase of crisis and deprivation. In a statement published on Thursday (6 August), the movement said that five years after the Taliban’s return, women and girls continue to face systematic policies of exclusion and discrimination and remain deprived of education, work, social and political participation, and many fundamental rights. The statement said: “The rights of Afghan women are not negotiable. Girls’ right to education is not open to negotiation. Human dignity cannot be suspended.” The Movement of Empowered Afghan Women called on the United Nations, governments and international organisations to abandon policies of silence, appeasement and normalisation of relations with the Taliban, and to take practical action to genuinely support the rights and freedoms of the Afghan people. The movement also called on the international community not to turn the deprivation of an entire generation of Afghan girls into a “normal reality” and not to sacrifice the rights of women and girls for political interests in its engagement with the Taliban. The statement stressed that any political process concerning Afghanistan’s future, without the genuine and meaningful participation of women and representatives of civil society, cannot lead to lasting and just peace. The movement said that excluding half of society from fundamental areas of life is not only a violation of human rights, but also an obstacle to Afghanistan’s development, stability and future.

Sent to ZAN TV Ahead of the fifth anniversary of the Taliban’s return to power, the Women’s Movement Towards Freedom has called on the United Nations, governments and human rights organisations not to remain silent in the face of violations of the rights of the Afghan people and to refrain from normalising relations with the Taliban without guarantees for citizens’ fundamental rights. Members of the movement held protest actions in Kabul and Islamabad, describing Taliban rule as lacking popular legitimacy. They said the group has turned Afghanistan into a “large prison” for millions of citizens by suppressing fundamental freedoms, excluding women from educational, social, economic and political life, and imposing gender discrimination. The Women’s Movement Towards Freedom called for the Taliban’s policies against women to be recognised as “gender apartheid” and for those responsible for these policies to face legal prosecution before international institutions. The movement also emphasised the rights of women and girls to education, work, political participation, freedom of expression, freedom of movement and an equal life, and called for the immediate removal of all restrictions imposed on them. Members of the movement said no society can have a bright future without women’s participation and respect for human rights. They called on the international community to take effective steps to provide practical support for the rights of the Afghan people, particularly women and girls. The Women’s Movement Towards Freedom described the resistance of Afghan women as a symbol of hope and courage, saying the voices of women who have fought for freedom in the streets, in their homes, in prisons and in exile will not be silenced. This comes as 15 August marks five years since the Taliban returned to power, five years marked by the widespread denial of education, work, freedom of movement and participation in public life to women and girls. International organisations have repeatedly called on the Taliban to lift the restrictions and bans imposed on women, but the group, claiming to implement Sharia, has so far taken no effective action to end these policies.

Social Media The Human Rights Activists Union, responding to the Taliban’s continued arrests of women in Herat, says no society can achieve stability, justice or legitimacy by imprisoning women, silencing girls and imposing fear on families. The organisation said on Thursday (30 July), that arresting women because of their clothing was a clear violation of their individual freedom, human dignity and fundamental rights. In a statement, the organisation said that pulling women out of vehicles in public, forcibly transferring them to unknown locations and creating an atmosphere of fear across the city constituted neither law enforcement nor the maintenance of public order. The Human Rights Activists Union says what is happening in Herat is not merely a clothing restriction, but part of an organised system aimed at controlling, humiliating and excluding women from social life. According to the organisation, the arrest of women because of their clothing, alongside denying them education, employment, social participation and freedom of movement, shows that the Taliban have turned women into second-class citizens. The Human Rights Activists Union also described the Taliban’s treatment of women as a continuation of historical patterns of humiliation, abduction, deprivation of autonomy and instrumental treatment of women. The organisation stressed that it considers the Taliban a “terrorist, illegal group lacking legal legitimacy” and described all arbitrary arrests, repression and restrictions imposed on women as contrary to human rights principles, international law and human dignity. The Human Rights Activists Union called on the United Nations, special rapporteurs, human rights organisations, governments committed to democratic values and the international community not to remain silent over the continued arrest and repression of women. The organisation warned that silence in the face of the repression of women paves the way for the expansion of injustice and the recurrence of humanitarian tragedies. This comes after Taliban vice and virtue officers arrested at least five women wearing manteaus in different parts of Herat city on Wednesday evening (29 July). According to witnesses, the Taliban pulled one of the women out of her husband’s vehicle and forcibly took her away. The arrest of women because of their clothing had previously sparked protests in Herat. The Taliban suppressed protests by residents of Jibril with gunfire, killing at least two teenagers and injuring several others.

Image: Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Reporters Without Borders (RSF) named Maryam Naibkhil, managing director of Zan Television Network, among the five nominees for its 2026 Press Freedom Prize in the “Journalistic Independence” category. The nomination goes beyond an individual achievement, reflecting the struggle of women journalists who continue working to preserve independent journalism on Afghanistan despite threats, censorship and forced displacement. RSF’s Journalistic Independence Prize is awarded annually to journalists, media outlets or organisations that resist political, economic, financial, religious or other forms of pressure while upholding professional principles. In its profile of Naibkhil, RSF highlighted her continued work in exile and her independent stance against the Taliban and their policies. RSF nominated a total of 28 journalists, photographers, media outlets and defenders of press freedom from 25 countries across five categories. The Journalistic Independence Prize was awarded to Julia Mengolini, an Argentine journalist and founder of the independent media outlet Futurock, during a ceremony held in Marseille, France, on 1 June. Speaking to Zan News, Naibkhil said she viewed the nomination as more than a personal achievement. “I do not see this nomination merely as a personal achievement. I see it as a greater responsibility to defend freedom of expression and the voices of women who, despite restrictions, continue to defend their right to participate in the media,” she said. According to Naibkhil, many Afghan women journalists have lost more than their jobs. They have also been deprived of their security, economic independence and ability to live normal lives. Some continue working inside Afghanistan under pressure and censorship, while others have been forced into exile or compelled to abandon journalism entirely. “My name appearing among the nominees for this prize symbolises the resistance of a generation of Afghan women journalists,” she added. “This nomination reflects the efforts of all the women journalists who continue to stand up for independent media and ensure that the voices of Afghan women are heard.” The Taliban’s return to power in August 2021 severely restricted the space for media activity in Afghanistan. UNESCO says more than 80 per cent of women working in the media have lost their jobs. UNAMA has also documented hundreds of violations against journalists and stressed that women journalists face greater restrictions and discrimination. The threat of arrest, Taliban interference in media content and restricted access to information have severely curtailed journalists’ ability to work freely. Naibkhil said censorship in Afghanistan is not limited to removing a report or changing a few words. The Taliban also interfere in the selection of questions, guests, images and editorial subjects. “Journalists are constantly worried that a question, guest, image or subject could anger the Taliban,” she said. “These pressures and the fear of arrest have deprived many journalists of the ability to work freely.” According to her, women journalists face multiple layers of pressure because of their gender. They have been prevented from attending press conferences, interviewing Taliban officials and participating freely in radio and television programmes. In its profile of Maryam Naibkhil, RSF wrote that she first worked at Zan TV as a presenter and later as a journalist. Following the Taliban’s return to power, she assumed responsibility for managing the outlet despite serious security risks. According to RSF, Naibkhil covered subjects in 2022 that the Taliban considered “sensitive”, particularly issues related to women. Security threats forced her to seek refuge first in Pakistan and later in France, but she continued running Zan TV online from exile. Naibkhil said Zan TV operated inside Afghanistan until July 2022. Continuing to work under the name “Zan TV” in an environment where the Taliban were removing women from public life was not merely a professional decision, she said. “Continuing to work under the name Zan TV was a form of resistance against the erasure of women from public life and the media,” she said. According to Naibkhil, preserving editorial independence while protecting the lives of her colleagues was among the most difficult aspects of working inside Afghanistan. In interviews with Taliban officials, including Zabihullah Mujahid, she raised questions about violations of women’s rights, the detention of protesters and restrictions on the media; questions that increased the risk of threats or arrest. Naibkhil said direct threats and the risk of detention ultimately made it impossible for her to continue working in Afghanistan. According to her, Taliban intelligence officers searched her mobile phone and interrogated and threatened her over her media work. During the first years of exile, Naibkhil continued operating Zan TV from a single room in Pakistan with only a laptop. As the number of staff declined, she assumed much of the responsibility for managing broadcasts, reporting, conducting interviews, editing and designing content. “Running a media network with such limited resources was extremely difficult, but I did not want the voices of Zan TV and Afghan women to be silenced,” she said. The consequences of Taliban pressure on women journalists cannot be reduced to statistics alone. Naibkhil recalled a former Zan TV employee who had reported freely on camera before the Taliban’s return but was later forced to cover her face with a mask. For security reasons, Zan News is withholding her name and other identifying details. The journalist was later detained by the Taliban and did not return to media work after her release. According to Naibkhil, she was the breadwinner of her family but now has neither a job nor a stable income. Her story reflects the experiences of women who have been pushed out of the media since the Taliban’s return. Some continue to work but are forced to conceal their identities, faces and voices. According to Naibkhil, exiled media outlets are among the few remaining channels for publishing independent information about Afghanistan, as many issues concerning women’s rights and human rights violations cannot be reported freely by media outlets inside the country. RSF wrote that despite threats and Taliban efforts to silence her, Naibkhil has maintained an uncompromising stance against the group. For Naibkhil, journalistic independence means that no political authority, armed group or institution should determine which facts are published and which voices are excluded. Naibkhil said support for Afghan women journalists must not be limited to statements and expressions of concern. Journalists at risk need immediate access to protection, relocation and emergency visa pathways, while exiled media outlets require direct and accessible financial support. “Afghan women journalists do not need pity,” she said. “They need security, opportunities, resources and partnerships that enable them to continue their professional and independent work.” Maryam Naibkhil’s nomination for the Journalistic Independence Prize is a reminder of the women journalists who continue reporting the truth; under concealed identities inside Afghanistan and with limited resources in exile.

Image: © Mashal / Xinhua / MAXPPP The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) says in a new report that the Taliban arrested at least 30 women and girls during a campaign to enforce their prescribed hijab in Herat city and transferred them to Herat Provincial Prison. According to the report, published on Tuesday (28 July), the arrests took place between 6 and 8 June this year. The detained women and girls were released after pledging to comply with the Taliban-imposed dress code. UNAMA says that two days before the arrests began, the Taliban governor of Herat, together with officials from the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, asked community representatives to ensure that women complied with the Taliban’s hijab requirements when leaving their homes. The following day, the message was announced during Friday prayers at mosques across the city. According to witness accounts provided to UNAMA, in one case, a woman was arrested along with her male relatives. In another, a mother who refused to leave her daughter alone was detained with her. UNAMA also referred to a protest by residents of Herat’s Jebrael area. The protest was held on 9 June in response to the arrests of women and the enforcement of compulsory hijab. According to the report, Taliban forces suppressed the protest with beatings and gunfire, killing one boy, injuring at least four people and arresting at least 17 protesters. UNAMA says that following the protest, Taliban intelligence officers stopped people on the streets and searched their mobile phones for photographs, videos and messages related to the demonstration. Anyone found with protest-related content on their phone was detained and interrogated. The crackdown significantly reduced the presence of women on the streets and in public places across Herat. UNAMA says many women avoided leaving their homes for fear of arrest. The dress restrictions have also disrupted women’s access to healthcare. In November 2025, after the Taliban ordered hospitals, shopping centres, shops and government offices to deny entry to women not wearing burqas, Médecins Sans Frontières reported a 28 per cent decline in patient admissions at Herat Provincial Hospital. UNAMA says women in Herat have faced differing and contradictory Taliban instructions regarding their clothing. Some were told they would not be allowed to enter government offices without a burqa, while others were informed that wearing a chador and face mask would be sufficient. Forcing women to comply with an imposed dress code and punishing them for their clothing form part of the Taliban’s broader restrictions on women’s freedom of movement, access to services and participation in public life.

Image: © Hoshang Hashimi / AFP / Getty Images 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”.

Source: AI-generated image / Zan TV The Taliban say they imprison some women on charges including “moral corruption”, protesting, political activity and “promoting atheism” in order, they claim, to cleanse society of corruption and “reform” it. However, accounts from women who have experienced Taliban prisons reveal a shocking and horrific reality behind their walls. Several women released from Taliban prisons say these facilities are not places of reform for women, but environments filled with fear, pressure and sexual abuse. Some say that certain women may have been forced into labour, theft or prostitution because of poverty, unemployment and a lack of financial support. However, the Taliban not only imprison them but, according to these women, sexually exploit them and completely violate their human rights. To prepare this report, Zan News spoke with several former female prisoners and informed sources to document what happens to women behind the walls of Taliban prisons. A former female prisoner in Kabul, who asked not to be named, described her arrest and what happened to her in prison in an interview with Zan News: “Thirteen months ago, I was arrested one day in the Pul-e-Surkh area of Kabul. I had arranged to meet a boy and go to his house, but the Taliban became suspicious and arrested me. They first took us to a security district, recorded a video of us and then took us to prison. “After one week, Taliban forces would come to us and force us to go to different rooms. It was truly terrifying. Every night, I was afraid of what would happen to me. During the one year and one month I spent in prison, I witnessed many things and was repeatedly threatened. “The Taliban say they reform people, but they should reform themselves first. I had to work to support myself, but why did those who call themselves Muslims do this to us? Every day and night, they made up an excuse and took younger girls from the prison’s communal room to isolated rooms. They forced us to do whatever they wanted and sexually abused us.” With tears in her eyes, she described the pressure and threats imposed by the Taliban: “Sometimes they took us out of the room in the middle of the night and said we had to go to solitary confinement because we had caused trouble, talked too much or someone had complained that we had misbehaved. But then things happened that are difficult for me to speak about. We were simply afraid. We cried at night and did not know what would happen the next day. “One year and one month of my life passed like this. I witnessed many things that no one could imagine. It was not only one person who sexually abused us. Groups of Taliban members treated the girls this way. Apart from the beatings and violence, the worst thing was the sexual exploitation. “I no longer know who I am. Psychologically, I have become completely mentally unwell. Now that I am free, I am still afraid, afraid of Taliban violence. I cannot even sleep peacefully. I am afraid they will tie my hands again and rape me in that dark underground room. The Taliban have even taken away the peace of sleep from me. This did not happen only to me. It also happened to the girls who shared my cell.” A former female prisoner from Mazar-e-Sharif also shared a similarly painful account with Zan News. The woman, who asked not to be named, told Zan News: “One year ago, I wanted to go towards the Rawza-e-Sharif shrine. I was alone and only wanted to leave the house. Suddenly, a young man came up behind me and gestured to me. I understood what he wanted and finally gathered the courage to give him my telephone number, but I genuinely had no bad intentions. “The Taliban noticed and arrested me. The boy escaped, but the Taliban took me to a security district and asked, ‘Whose daughter are you, and who was that boy?’ Ten days later, they took me to court, accused me of adultery and then sent me to prison.” With anger and sorrow, and the terror of those days still visible on her face, she continued: “Conditions in prison were extremely difficult. They forced us to go to separate rooms and put us under intense pressure. I became pregnant, but one of the women working in the prison, who was a Taliban member and worked there as a cleaner, brought me medicine to abort the baby. The baby had been in my womb for about four months, and I was eventually forced to have an abortion. “Prison was truly an environment filled with fear and pressure. Every day, we were subjected to force and threats, and I was sexually abused. The Taliban took us from one room to another and made threats. There was no one to hear our voices. “Every day passed under stress, and we did not know what would happen the next day. When I left prison, I had nothing left. I was only a dead body. My soul was dead. My body may look like that of a woman, but I am broken inside and psychologically damaged. “In prison, the Taliban do nothing but rape women, particularly younger girls. There were eight girls in our cell, and none of us escaped sexual abuse. During my first days in prison, I saw how the Taliban treated others. Later, everything I had seen them do to those women was also done to me.” These accounts indicate that the sexual abuse of and pressure against female prisoners are systematic and widespread. Women in prisons face similar conditions, and their experiences of fear, threats and sexual exploitation present a real and shocking picture of conditions in women’s prisons under Taliban rule. This report emphasises that the Taliban have not only deprived women of their fundamental rights but have also exploited and sexually abused them in an inhumane manner.