Following the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021, women and girls in Afghanistan have endured unprecedented, systematic human rights violations, amounting to what they have described as “gender apartheid.” They are campaigning for the crime of gender apartheid to be codified under international law.At the same time, the International Criminal Court has brought charges for the crime against humanity of gender persecution. These abuses are enforced through formal decrees, institutionalized mechanisms, and a deeply embedded system of structural discrimination. The result is a totalized system of oppression and domination that has stripped women and girls of nearly all rights, including access to education, employment, freedom of movement, and public participation, resulting in systematic violations of human dignity and human rights as protected under international law.
This regime of gender-based oppression was rapidly solidified following the signing of a peace agreement between the United States and the Taliban, known as the Doha Agreement, on February 29, 2020. Women of Afghanistan were largely excluded from that process. Since then, the Taliban has reneged on virtually every commitment it made to the international community, including to U.S. counterparts, and especially on commitments regarding human rights, including the rights of women and girls. These rights violations unfold amid a deepening humanitarian and economic crisis, with 22.9 million people, nearly half of Afghanistan’s population, in need of assistance. It is imperative to ensure that any future U.S. government policy toward Afghanistan fully reflects and prioritizes the protection and promotion of the rights of women and girls, as well as broader human rights obligations.
This shadow report was submitted to the U.S. Congress and Department of State by the U.S. Policy Advocates for Afghan Women and Girls Working Group, a coalition of humanitarian and human rights organizations formed in 2021 in response to the Taliban’s return to power. The Working Group is committed to ensuring that U.S. policy toward Afghanistan prioritizes the rights and protection of women and girls, in accordance with its longstanding, bipartisan commitment to defending human rights and international law through its foreign policy. This report is intended to supplement the U.S. Department of State’s congressionally mandated 2024 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices (commonly referred to as the Human Rights Reports or HRRs), released on August 12, 2025. Specifically, it aims to provide a more accurate account of the human rights situation for women and girls under Taliban rule.