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Image: © Stringer / Reuters The Guardian has reported that a recent meeting between European Union officials and a Taliban delegation in Brussels to discuss the return of Afghan migrants has sparked widespread anger among Afghan women and human rights activists. The newspaper wrote on Thursday (25 June) that a number of Afghan women described the meeting as “a slap in the face of Afghan women”. According to them, by seating Taliban representatives at the negotiating table, Europe is giving legitimacy to a group that has deprived women of their most basic rights. The report said Afghan women view the move as Europe’s disregard for their five years of suffering. They say that by holding talks with the Taliban, the European Union is ignoring the deprivation of Afghan women from their most basic rights. The meeting was held on Tuesday in Brussels after 20 EU member states called for mechanisms to return Afghan citizens who do not have legal residency. European officials have said that talks with the Taliban are focused on individuals described as a “security threat” to Europe. However, The Guardian wrote that the invitation letter to Taliban officials referred to Afghans who do not have the legal right to stay in the European Union, an issue that critics say points to a much broader scope of deportations. Human rights activists see the meeting as part of Europe’s increasingly strict migration policies. They have warned that talks with the Taliban, even if described as “technical”, could lead to the normalisation of relations with the group and weaken human rights pressure on the Taliban. According to EU figures cited by The Guardian, member states received around one million asylum applications from Afghan citizens between 2013 and 2024, and nearly half of those applications were accepted. Meanwhile, the United Nations had previously reported that some Afghans returned to Afghanistan had faced arbitrary detention, torture and ill treatment. Human rights activists say returning Afghans to a country facing a human rights and humanitarian crisis under Taliban rule could endanger many lives. European Union officials have emphasised that the meeting does not amount to recognition of the Taliban. However, critics say issuing visas, hosting a meeting in Brussels and holding talks with Taliban representatives in practice gives the group political credibility. These concerns come as the Taliban have deprived women and girls in Afghanistan of education, work, freedom of movement and broad participation in public life. Women’s rights activists say any engagement with the Taliban without human rights conditions, particularly on the rights of women and girls, could normalise the repression of women in Afghanistan.

Image: AI-generated / CEPS A number of European lawmakers, former members of Afghanistan’s parliament and human rights activists have called on the European Union to refrain from inviting Taliban representatives to Brussels and from any official hosting of the group. In an open letter to the European Commission, the European External Action Service and EU member states, they expressed concern over talks with the Taliban on migration and the deportation of Afghan migrants. The signatories said such meetings, even if described as “technical”, could give the Taliban political legitimacy and send a message of normalising relations with the group. Hannah Neumann, a member of the European Parliament from Germany, published the letter on X on Tuesday (23 June) and said, “Every invitation, every visa and every official meeting carries a political message.” She stressed that the Taliban use migration cooperation to gain political concessions and that the European Union must not trade its human rights principles for deportation agreements. The letter said the Taliban have not met any of the benchmarks set by the European Union for engagement. The signatories pointed to severe restrictions against women and girls, political repression, arbitrary detentions and public punishments in Afghanistan. They also said the growing role of Taliban officials in some Afghan consular missions in Europe has increased concerns about surveillance and pressure on Afghan migrants. The signatories called on the European Union to avoid any official engagement with the Taliban, separate migration cooperation from political processes and increase pressure to hold the Taliban accountable for human rights violations. The request comes as Belgium has issued visas to a number of Taliban representatives to attend a migration-related meeting in Brussels. European officials have said the meeting is technical in nature and does not amount to recognition of the Taliban. However, human rights activists have warned that any official hosting of the Taliban could help normalise relations with the group. These concerns come as, since returning to power, the Taliban have deprived women and girls of education, work, freedom of movement and participation in many areas of public life.

Photo: UN Richard Bennett, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, has called on the European Union and its member states not to return Afghans to places where they face danger. Bennett said on Tuesday (23 June) on his X account, in response to the invitation of a Taliban delegation to Brussels, that the principle of non-refoulement is “absolute” and “non-derogable” and that no exceptions are permitted. The reaction came after the European Union invited a Taliban delegation to Brussels for talks on the return of a number of Afghan asylum seekers. European officials have said the talks are technical and do not amount to formal recognition of the Taliban. Bennett said torture remains a real and serious risk in Afghanistan. According to him, no assurances or guarantees from the Taliban can remove this risk. Meanwhile, Malala Yousafzai, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has also condemned the invitation of the Taliban to Brussels. She wrote on her X account on Monday (22 June) that she was “shocked and deeply disturbed” by the move. Malala said the Taliban are the same group that banned girls from going to school and excluded women and girls from public life. She added that through “gender apartheid”, the Taliban have deprived women and girls in Afghanistan of education, work and social participation. Malala stressed, “Any engagement with the Taliban must begin and end with the rights of Afghan women and girls.” The invitation of the Taliban to Brussels has prompted widespread reactions from human rights activists and organisations defending asylum seekers. Critics say engagement with the Taliban, even at a technical level, could grant the group legitimacy and put the safety of Afghan returnees at risk. These concerns come as the Taliban have imposed sweeping restrictions on women and girls in Afghanistan over nearly the past five years, from closing the doors of schools and universities to girls to banning women from work. Human rights organisations have warned that returning Afghans to Afghanistan, especially under the current conditions, could expose them to detention, torture, persecution and serious human rights violations.

Photo: UN Women/Sayed Habib Bidell The scorching sun beats down on the old tents, and the heatwave has made breathing difficult for those living in them. Hot wind shakes the thin, worn-out tents. The rustling sound of torn plastic echoes in the heavy silence of the summer afternoon. With every gust of wind, dust rises and swirls in the dry, burning air. Tent dwellers say living in this unbearable heat feels more like being inside an oven than a shelter. Children with dust-covered faces take refuge in faint patches of shade, and women, with tired faces, pull aside the tent curtains in search of a little air. Amid these hot and worn-out tents, Bibi Gul, a 17 year old girl, gave birth to her first child, without a doctor, a midwife or a health centre nearby. Bibi Gul is a resident of Badghis province. She says that six years ago, when fighting between the former government forces and the Taliban intensified, her family was forced to leave their home in Qadis district and seek refuge in Herat. The refuge that was supposed to be safe has today left Bibi Gul with nothing but a hot tent and a life mixed with poverty. In a weak voice, affected by pain and illness, she says: “When my pain started, I thought I would not survive. The weather was very hot, my body had become weak and there was no one to help me.” Bibi Gul says the labour pain led to severe bleeding, but she had no way to go to hospital because her family had neither money for transport nor a vehicle to take her to Herat city. Beside the tent, Lailuma, Bibi Gul’s mother-in-law, gathers pieces of paper and plastic to create a little smoke and keep the flies away. But her suffering is greater than anything visible in this place. Lailuma says her husband and son are unemployed and the family is unable even to provide food for the night. Lailuma says: “My husband and my son have no work. Some days, we cannot find anything to eat. How could I take my daughter-in-law to hospital?” She stresses that there is no health centre in the area where they live. According to Lailuma, Bibi Gul’s bleeding had terrified them, but poverty and a lack of health awareness led the family to make a dangerous decision. She says: “Out of desperation, we gave her raw liver. They said it would stop the bleeding. Now not only has she not recovered, but her illness has become worse.” Bibi Gul is now struggling with severe illness. Her face is pale and her voice trembles with fear of the future. She says: “I have become very weak. I am afraid I may not be able to see my child grow up. My life may be short.” On the other side of the tent, Ghulam, Lailuma’s husband, speaks with concern about the health condition of their daughter-in-law. He says: “We worry every day. If her condition worsens, we have no way out. There is no money, no doctor.” Bibi Gul’s story is not only the account of a difficult birth. It is a picture of the lives of women who become mothers on the margins of cities, far from basic health services. Her child’s birth took place not in a well-equipped hospital room, but under a hot tent, where hope and fear breathe at the same time. For Bibi Gul, motherhood has begun with one big question: Will she survive to see her child’s future?

Social Media Local sources in Herat say the Taliban have arrested four people accused of taking part in recent protests in the province. Sources said on Friday (12 June) that the individuals were arrested by Taliban forces following public protests in Herat. According to sources, a teenager was also injured after Taliban forces opened fire. The arrests come as residents of the Jebrael area of Herat took to the streets on Tuesday (9 June) to protest the detention of women and girls by the Taliban over their clothing. Earlier, UNAMA had expressed concern over the detention of at least 30 women in Herat and the excessive use of force by Taliban forces against protesters. Human Rights Watch also said that Taliban forces opened fire on protesters during the suppression of the Herat protest, killing one child, injuring several people and detaining others.

Photo: AI “A Taliban fighter struck me on the head with the butt of his rifle. I lost consciousness and do not know what happened after that.” This is part of the account of Nazia, one of the female protesters in Herat. She says she went to the streets to demand the right to work, education and freedom, but was met with violence by Taliban forces and returned home injured and covered in blood. On Tuesday morning (9 June), a number of women and men gathered in the Jebrael area of Herat to protest the detention of women and what they described as the violent treatment of women by Taliban morality police. The protesters say they were not demanding special privileges and did not chant political slogans. They shouted only three words: “Work, Education and Freedom.” However, they say the Taliban could not tolerate even these simple demands and responded with gunfire and beatings. According to witnesses, the Taliban’s response to these demands was not dialogue, but repression. Nazia, who took part in the gathering, told Zan News that she had learned about the protest through social media the night before. She left early in the morning with one of her friends to join the protest. According to her, the Taliban had already blocked roads and were trying to prevent people from gathering. Nazia says: “When the crowd grew larger and the chants of work, education and freedom became louder, the Taliban began beating people. One Taliban fighter said to me, ‘You are a girl and you do not want hijab?’ Then he struck me on the head with the butt of his rifle. When I opened my eyes, I was inside a house and several girls were splashing water on my face. My head was covered in blood and I could not walk. Then someone knocked on the door and the girls started running away. We escaped through another door of the same house. My friend and another girl helped me and I got into a three wheeler. By the time I reached home, I had lost a lot of blood from my head.” Nazia’s account is only one of dozens of similar stories, stories of women who say they faced violence while demanding the most basic human rights. Soria, another participant in the protest, told Zan News that Taliban forces charged at the crowd moments after the slogans began. She says: “We came only for our rights. But instead of listening to our voices, the Taliban responded with gunfire. I saw women being injured with my own eyes. People were running and no one felt safe.” According to her, as the number of protesters increased, more vehicles carrying Taliban security and intelligence personnel arrived at the scene and arrests began. Aisha, another woman who attended the gathering, describes the Taliban’s behaviour as “brutal”. She says Taliban forces initially beat people with sticks, whips and rifle butts in an attempt to disperse the crowd. However, when they failed to stop the protest, they resorted to using firearms. She says: “We were wearing hijab, yet we were still targeted with violence. That day, it did not matter to the Taliban what women were wearing. What mattered was why they had raised their voices in protest.” The accounts of these women paint a picture of a reality that many Afghan women have experienced over the past five years, a reality in which the right to education, the right to work and even the right to be present in public spaces have become contested issues despite women wearing Islamic dress and hijab. Tuesday’s protest in Herat was part of a civil resistance against Taliban policies, policies that critics describe as a clear example of discrimination and institutionalised misogyny. The women who took to the streets in Jebrael say that their demands are nothing more than basic human rights, rights that, in their view, the Taliban continue to refuse to recognise.

Source: Online platforms She is so young that she still talks about childhood games, former classmates and the schoolbooks that have gathered dust in a corner of her home since schools were closed. But instead of sitting in a classroom, she now lives in the home of a man who, she says, is more than 40 years old. Khadija, a 13 year old girl from Nimroz province, spoke to Zan News about her married life, even though she still does not fully understand what marriage means. “I wanted to go to school and continue my education,” she says. “But they gave me to this old man. I used to sleep beside my mother at night. Now I am very afraid and cry every night. I never imagined that I would be married off.” Khadija says the decision about her marriage was made without her consent by men who decided her future for her. She says that her father, who had been involved in drug trafficking, was forced to agree to her marriage after a dispute arose with a Taliban member. “I heard that I was given to this Taliban member in exchange for 50 kilograms of opium,” she says. “I did not understand any of it. I only knew that I could no longer go to school or return to my own home. I no longer have my old life.” She says she cried for days when she learned about the marriage. “I still had dolls. I was still playing with the girls in my neighbourhood. I did not understand why I had to become the wife of a old man.” Khadija’s story is only one among many children who, after being deprived of education, have found themselves facing futures they had no role in choosing. In Badghis province, Aqlima speaks of dreams that were taken away before she could reach them. She says she always wanted to become a doctor. “When the schools were closed, I thought they might reopen after a few months. I kept my books. But instead of schools reopening, they brought me a wedding dress.” Aqlima says she still knows nothing about married life. “I am still a child. When I see girls my age studying or playing, I feel that something has been taken away from me.” In Mazar-e-Sharif, Maryam tells a similar story. She says that when she walked out of her school for the last time, she never imagined that day would mark the end of her dreams. “I wanted to become a teacher. I wanted to study. But after sixth grade, I was no longer allowed to go to school. I even tried to fail so I could stay in school longer. I handed in a blank exam paper, but they still passed me. Because I stayed at home, my father married me off. Now nobody asks about my dreams anymore.” Her voice trembles as she adds: “No one ever asked me whether I wanted to get married.” The stories of Khadija, Aqlima and Maryam come at a time when millions of girls in Afghanistan remain deprived of their right to education. Women’s rights advocates have repeatedly warned that closing schools and universities does not only deny girls an education. It also exposes them to child marriage, forced marriage and complete economic dependence. In a country where girls are prohibited from continuing their education beyond sixth grade, many families no longer see a future for their daughters in school. For some families, early marriage has become the alternative to education. But it is the children who pay the price, children who should still be sitting behind school desks. At the end of the interview, Khadija falls silent. After a few seconds, she quietly says: “If school had remained open, maybe I would not be a bride today. Maybe I would not be the wife of a Taliban member. Maybe I would have had a choice.” A short sentence that may capture the reality of thousands of girls whose childhoods were taken from them after the doors of education were closed. The names Khadija, Aqlima and Maryam have been changed to protect their identities and safety.

Social Media The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has confirmed that one person was killed during the Taliban’s suppression of protests in the Jebrael area of Herat. The mission said it is also reviewing reports of a second death linked to the incident. In a statement issued on Wednesday (10 June), UNAMA expressed concern over the detention of at least 30 women in Herat city. The mission also said it is concerned about the excessive use of force by Taliban security personnel against protesters in Jebrael. According to the statement, Taliban morality officials and police detained women in Herat on 6 and 7 June, apparently for failing to comply with the group’s dress requirements. UNAMA added that dozens of other women received warnings by telephone. According to the mission, the detained women were released on 8 June, but such arrests can have serious consequences for women and their families. The mission said a number of protesters were injured during the suppression of the Jebrael protest after being beaten, including with sticks. UNAMA stressed that people have the right to express their views peacefully and without fear of violence, intimidation or retaliation. Georgette Gagnon, Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Afghanistan and Acting Head of UNAMA, said that the detention of a woman in Afghanistan carries a “significant stigma” and can expose women to further violence and isolation even after their release. Ms Gagnon added that under international law, the Taliban are obligated to protect the rights of all Afghans to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, liberty and security of person, and protection from arbitrary detention. UNAMA stressed that all law enforcement measures must comply with internationally recognised human rights standards, including the principles of necessity, proportionality and non-discrimination. The mission once again called on the Taliban to revoke all policies and practices that restrict the human rights and fundamental freedoms of women and men in Afghanistan. In this regard, UNAMA referred to restrictions on freedom of movement, freedom of expression, education, employment and participation in public life. The statement comes as residents of the Jebrael area of Herat took to the streets on Tuesday (9 June) to protest the Taliban’s detention of women over their clothing. The Taliban suppressed the protest with gunfire and beatings.

Photo: © Jennifer Gauthier / Reuters TIME magazine has included Khalida Popal, former captain of Afghanistan’s women’s national football team, in its list of the 100 most influential people in sports for 2026. The list, titled TIME100 Sports 2026, was published on Tuesday (9 June). TIME described Popal as one of the leading figures in Afghan women’s football and a prominent advocate for the participation of Afghan women in sport. The magazine noted that Popal was among the founders of Afghanistan’s first women’s national football team in 2007. She served as the team’s captain and also campaigned to encourage girls to participate in sports and football. According to TIME, women’s sport in Afghanistan collapsed following the Taliban’s return to power. Many female athletes, including Popal, were forced to leave the country. TIME reported that Popal now lives in Denmark and plays a leading role in organising Afghan Women United, a team made up of Afghan refugee women living in different countries around the world. According to the report, Popal has also campaigned for FIFA’s recognition of the team. The team was officially recognised by FIFA in April and can now compete in international tournaments, including qualification events for the 2028 Summer Olympics. Khalida Popal has become one of the most recognised Afghan voices in global sport and women’s rights advocacy in recent years. Since the Taliban’s return to power, she has continued to campaign for the protection of Afghan women footballers and their continued participation in the sport. This comes as the Taliban have imposed sweeping restrictions on women’s participation in sport, education, employment and public life since returning to power in 2021. The exclusion of women from sport in Afghanistan has led many Afghan female athletes to continue their careers and advocacy efforts from exile.

Sent to ZAN TV The Freedom Seekers Movement in Exile says the public protests in the Jebrael area of Herat are not merely a reaction to a specific incident, but the voice of people who have lived for nearly five years under repression, discrimination, deprivation and the systematic denial of their fundamental rights. In a statement, the movement expressed support for the protests by women and residents of Herat and described the Taliban’s treatment of demonstrators as a clear violation of human rights. The statement said that Afghan women, particularly women in Herat, have once again shown that policies aimed at excluding women from social, educational, cultural and political life have failed to break their determination to defend freedom and human dignity. The Freedom Seekers Movement in Exile said the detention of protesting women and the violent treatment of citizens are further examples of the Taliban’s organised policy to silence voices calling for freedom. The movement stressed that what is happening in Afghanistan today is not merely isolated violations of women’s rights, but a form of “gender apartheid.” It called on the international community to recognise this reality and hold those responsible accountable. The Freedom Seekers Movement in Exile also urged the United Nations, the Human Rights Council, democratic governments and human rights organisations to move beyond symbolic statements and take practical action to support Afghan women, secure the release of detainees and ensure accountability for those responsible for repression. The statement said that silence in the face of the oppression of Afghan women amounts to the normalisation of injustice. The movement added that the women of Herat are not only fighting for their own rights, but are also defending the values of freedom, equality and human dignity. The statement comes as residents of the Jebrael area of Herat took to the streets on Tuesday (9 June) to protest the Taliban’s detention of women over their clothing. The Taliban suppressed the protest with gunfire and beatings. Reports indicate that at least four people, including a child, were injured after Taliban forces opened fire. In recent days, the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has intensified restrictions on women’s movement and detained dozens of women from different parts of Herat, including Jebrael, for allegedly failing to comply with the group’s dress requirements.