Afghan Witness

19/11/2024

Investigation: Thousands displaced in Kabul by a large-scale land clearance campaign

Officially framed as infrastructure development, the demolition campaign forces vulnerable populations out, erasing informal settlements and impacting minority neighbourhoods.

In this collaborative investigation with Lighthouse Reports, The Guardian, Zan Times and اطلاعات روز Etilaatroz, Afghan Witness mapped the land clearances in Kabul using the municipality’s own videos, satellite imagery and other open source material, providing the first comprehensive look at the demolition campaign.

Officially framed as infrastructure development, the demolition campaign forces vulnerable populations out, erasing informal settlements and impacting minority neighbourhoods.

06/11/2024

🚨 Taliban Minister's comments spark global outrage over "women’s voice ban"

Acting Minister Hanafi’s comments on new “virtue and vice law” lead to global condemnation, and some misinterpretations.

➡️ On 26 October, the Taliban’s Ministry of the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (MoPVPV) shared a clip of acting Minister Hanafi discussing Clause 3 of Article 13 of the Law on the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. The post featured the caption, “In which situations is the voice of women considered awrah (forbidden)”?

➡️ He noted that the law explicitly forbids women from loud recitations, singing nasheeds (Islamic vocal songs or chants), and performing songs.

➡️ Some media outlets and social media users misinterpreted the remarks as new restrictions, when he was commenting on the implementation of the existing law.

➡️ The remarks were also widely misinterpreted as restricting women from speaking to each other out loud in general, which is not the case: the restrictions specifically concern singing and religious recitation.

🔗 To learn more, read the full report on our website:

https://www.afghanwitness.org/reports/taliban-minister%E2%80%99s-comments-sparks-outrage-over-%E2%80%9Cwomen%E2%80%99s-voice-ban%E2%80%9D

11/10/2024

🗓️ Today marks the International Day of the Girl Child.

🌍 While the world celebrates, in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan girls' education ends at the sixth grade (age 11–12).

👉 Afghanistan is now the only country in the world where education for girls is officially banned, leaving a staggering 80% of school-aged Afghan girls and young women out of school.

➡️ This not only represents a profound personal loss for these young women but also deprives Afghanistan of crucial talent, with consequences that will shape the country's future for generations.

➡️ Yet, millions of Afghan women and girls continue to resist, fighting for their right to education through secret schools and libraries, often online.

Afghan Witness has been monitoring the situation for women and girls in Afghanistan since the Taliban retook power in August 2021.

🔗 If you wish to learn about the Taliban’s erasure of women from public life, read our investigation here:

https://www.afghanwitness.org/reports/investigation%3A-the-erasure-of-women

10/10/2024

🚨 AW Report: Boy found dead after accusing Taliban members of s*xual abuse

Read the full report on our website:

https://www.afghanwitness.org/reports/boy-found-dead-after-accusing-taliban-members-of-s*xual-abuse

➡️ On 19 September 2024, a video circulated on social media showing the interrogation of an unnamed teenage boy from Farah province. The boy claimed that several Taliban commanders had r***d him on multiple occasions. The boy also claimed that the perpetrators paid him AFN 200-400 (approximately GBP 2-5) in each instance, whilst forcing him into s*x.

➡️ The setting of the video suggested that the boy was under formal interrogation, though the interrogators were not pictured and the location not given. However, AW matched a blanket visible in the room with a blanket in imagery from a July 2023 post by the crimes investigation department of Farah’s police command.

➡️ The boy identified Taliban members Abdul Hadi, Musa Lawang, and Jamu Junaid as perpetrators. Further reports claimed that a fourth individual, Abdullah Khadim, a Taliban commander and the special guard of Balkh’s police chief, was named as a perpetrator by the boy. His name was not mentioned in the published portion of the video.

➡️ On 23 September 2024, Zawia News reported that the boy had been killed following the release of the video. The news agency claimed that Abdullah Khadim, whose name was not included in the video, traveled to Farah and shot the boy to silence him.

➡️ Photos of the boy’s body were shared online, and AW verified the match between his facial features in the video and the postmortem images. Several X users from Farah also confirmed his death.

➡️ While the boy’s family has not come forward, likely due to fears of reprisal and social stigma surrounding s*xual abuse, the incident has ignited outrage. The boy’s murder appears to be an effort to suppress his allegations, underscoring the dangers faced by those who accuse Taliban members of misconduct.

30/09/2024

🚨 AW Report: Social media activists arrested in eastern Afghanistan 🚨

https://www.afghanwitness.org/reports/social-media-activists-arrested-in-eastern-afghanistan

In August 2024, the Taliban arrested two social media activists, Khetabullah Bangakh and Abdul Rahman Gulab, for spreading anti-Taliban content. Both were featured in confession videos pledging support to the Taliban.

AW notes that the confession videos bear similarities to confession videos previously released by the Taliban’s General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) and by other pro-Taliban outlets, suggesting a collaboration.

The arrests highlight the Taliban’s growing focus on monitoring social media, particularly Facebook, which remains the dominant platform in Afghanistan, and a broader pattern of repression targeting online dissent.

Pro-Taliban media claimed that the Taliban had “acquired the capability to identify and track anonymous addresses using advanced technical devices,” but provided no evidence of said capacity.

In August 2024, the Taliban arrested two social media activists, Khetabullah Bangakh and Abdul Rahman Gulab, for spreading anti-Taliban content. Both were featured in confession videos pledging support to the Taliban.

23/09/2024

Noor Fellowship: meet the fellows and discover their work

https://www.afghanwitness.org/reports/noor-fellowship%3A-meet-the-fellows-and-discover-their-work

The Noor Fellowship ('Noor' or 'نور', meaning 'light') is a four-month online program that provides mentoring in open-source intelligence, verification, fact-checking and network building to selected journalists, researchers, advocates, and human rights reporters working on Afghanistan.

Their research offers fresh perspectives on key issues and under-reported stories concerning land rights, media freedom, and women’s digital activism in Afghanistan.

Their research offers fresh perspectives on key issues and under-reported stories concerning land rights, media freedom, and women’s digital activism in Afghanistan.

05/09/2024

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30/08/2024

🚨 Voiceless and faceless shadows: the Taliban's law on 'Virtue and Vice'

➡️ On 21 August, 2024, the Taliban introduced a strict “Law for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice,” containing 35 articles that heavily restrict personal freedoms, especially for women and the media, while increasing the power of the morality police (Muhtaseebs).

➡️ Ravina Shamdasani, the Chief Spokesperson of the UN human rights office, claimed that the law “cements policies that completely erase women’s presence in public [...] to render them into faceless, voiceless shadows.”

22/08/2024

🚨 With support from Afghan Witness, () has released a comprehensive map detailing the locations of the Taliban’s women’s prisons in Afghanistan.

🔗 Access it here: https://8am.media/eng/the-digital-map-of-womens-prisons-under-taliban-rule/

🗺️ Developed using contributions from journalists, local sources, Taliban prison officials, female prisoners, and their relatives. It includes information on prison locations, inmate numbers, charges, and family access.

🌍 Available in Persian, Pashto, Uzbek, and English. The map will be continuously updated.

8AM Media, also known as Hasht-e-Subh Daily, stands as Afghanistan's premier independent and non-profit newspaper, resonating as a beacon of journalistic integrity since its establishment in June 2007 by esteemed Afghan journalists and human rights advocates. With a steadfast commitment to citizen j...

15/08/2024

🚨 AW investigation: The Erasure of Women

Three years ago today, when the Taliban seized power in Kabul, they promised to uphold women’s rights “within the framework of Sharia.”

What has happened since? 👇

➡️ Under Taliban rule, Afghan women are experiencing a systematic erasure from public life.

➡️ Women have been banned from most forms of education, work, and other ways to participate in society. The harsh restrictions have confined them to their homes under the authority of male guardians, stripping them of fundamental rights.

➡️ From January 2022 to June 2024, AW recorded 700 cases of gender-based violence (GBV) against Afghan women, with 422 cases allegedly involving Taliban members as perpetrators. The true scale of violence is likely much greater.

Read the full report here:

Three years after the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021, the situation for women and girls has worsened, with no indication of improvement. The Taliban’s discriminatory policies towards women, and their strict implementation, amounts to a deliberate attempt to erase women from public li...

12/08/2024

🚨 AW investigators geolocated aftermath of claimed ISKP attack on civilian minibus

🗓️ 11.08.2024
🏙️ Dasht-e Barchi, PD13, western Kabul
📍 34.500624, 69.073873

ISKP has claimed responsibility for an explosion targeting a civilian minibus in the Hazara and Shia-majority neighborhood of Dasht-e Barchi in western Kabul. The Taliban police chief's spokesperson reported that the blast resulted in one death and left 11 others injured.

AW was unable to verify specific claims regarding the casualties.

08/08/2024

🚨 AW Investigators geolocated footage of claimed AFF attack on Taliban checkpoint.

🗓️ 07.08.2024
🏙️ Baraki square, PD4, Kabul
📍 34.539409, 69.143109

The Afghanistan Freedom Front (AFF) claimed responsibility for a Wednesday attack on an alleged Taliban checkpoint near Baraki square in Kabul. The AFF claimed to have killed three Taliban members and injured a fourth.

AW was unable to verify specific claims regarding the casualties.