Four Years of Taliban Rule: Women’s Rights Eroded, Health Crisis Deepens, Refugees Face Rising Threats
As the Taliban prepare to mark four years in power, Afghan women and girls describe severe psychological pressure and a deepening sense of hopelessness under sweeping restrictions on education, work, and public life, Amu TV reported. Since August 2021, girls above grade six have been barred from school, women excluded from most government and NGO jobs, and access to public spaces such as parks and gyms sharply curtailed. The UN’s gender agency warns that without urgent action, the Taliban will normalize the complete erasure of women from public life.
Former students say years of lost education have shattered their aspirations. “Over the past four years I could have become a doctor and served my country,” said Sabria, a former economics student, “but this right has been taken from us.”
The humanitarian fallout extends beyond education. International medical aid group Emergency reports that more than 70% of Afghans lack access to free or affordable healthcare, with 22.9 million people—over half the population—requiring humanitarian assistance. Restrictions on women’s mobility have delayed or denied critical treatment for female patients, sometimes leading to preventable deaths. Emergency, which operates surgical centers in Kabul, Lashkar Gah, and Panjshir alongside a maternity hospital and 40 healthcare posts, warns that without urgent international aid, medical access will deteriorate further.
Meanwhile, thousands of Afghan refugees abroad face renewed risk. Human Rights Watch (HRW) has condemned the planned US termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Afghans, calling it inconsistent with the US State Department’s own 2024 human rights report, which cites arbitrary arrests, torture, extrajudicial killings, and severe curbs on civil liberties under Taliban rule. Rights advocates warn the move could force vulnerable individuals back into a dangerous environment, undermining US humanitarian commitments. The convergence of rights repression, healthcare collapse, and refugee vulnerability underscores what aid agencies and advocates describe as one of the world’s most severe and under-addressed humanitarian crises.
