UN Says Taliban Dress Code Arrests Targeted Afghan Women

A United Nations mission in Afghanistan says Taliban authorities arrested or detained at least 52 women and one girl in Kabul and Herat between July and September in a crackdown on alleged dress code violations. The Taliban dress code arrests were verified by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, known as UNAMA, which warned that the true number is probably higher because fear and social stigma keep many cases unreported, according to UN News.

The mission said women were picked up for not wearing a chador, an all-enveloping cloak, for having visible hair, for wearing colourful scarves or makeup, or for appearing in public without a mahram, a male guardian. Most were released after several hours in detention. UNAMA said it was also alarmed by reports of verbal abuse, beatings and threats against women, including female shopkeepers, and said the enforcement violates the rights of women and girls to freedom of movement, expression and personal autonomy. It urged the de facto authorities to end the discriminatory practice and to respect Afghanistan's obligations under international human rights law. The Associated Press, citing UNAMA, reported the same figures.

A pattern of punishment

The Taliban dress code arrests fit a pattern that has held since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, with Afghan women and girls barred from secondary school and most jobs and pushed out of public life. In June, UNAMA reported that at least 30 women were arrested in Herat for alleged dress code violations while dozens more received verbal warnings, Khaama Press reported. That earlier crackdown drew protests in Herat's Jibreil area, where the mission said at least one boy was killed by gunfire and several people were injured.

The courts and the border

Days before the UNAMA findings, the International Criminal Court unsealed arrest warrants for four senior Taliban figures on reasonable grounds to believe they ordered or induced the crime against humanity of gender persecution. The warrants name supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada, chief justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani, education minister Habibullah Agha and higher education minister Neda Mohammad Nadim. The judges found the men implemented a governmental policy that produced severe violations of fundamental rights and freedoms of the Afghan civilian population. The warrants were issued in 2025 and kept under seal until October 5, when the court made them public, BusinessWorld reported. The Taliban has rejected the court's position, saying it does not recognize the ICC.

The crackdown is landing on top of a record wave of returns. The timing puts the Taliban dress code arrests alongside the largest forced return movement in years. A UNHCR report published October 8 says 581,600 Afghans have returned from Iran since the start of the year, and 492,300 of them, about 85 percent, were forcibly deported. About half of the returnees crossed at Islam Qala in Herat province, the same province where the detentions took place, according to UNHCR. The agency says the influx is straining basic services, housing and job opportunities in Afghanistan. Funding cuts have made it worse: UN News reported that cash grants for returnees were cut sharply and that reintegration grants have reached just 175 households this year, compared with 5,300 in 2024.

For the women and girls among the returnees, the border leads back into a country where clothing can be policed. About half of Afghan women now leave their homes only once or twice a month as restrictions curtail their freedom of movement, according to UN figures cited by BusinessWorld. The Taliban dress code arrests are the latest sign that street-level enforcement continues even as the courts in The Hague build their case.

Aid officials say the danger goes beyond the border crossings. UNHCR warned last month that when registration stops, safe houses close and child protection services disappear, the violence, exploitation and abuse people fled reappear in displacement. The agency has cut its workforce by a third and closed offices in 140 locations as donor money dried up, Reuters reported. For Afghan returnees, that means less help arriving in a country already short of housing, work and basic services. UNAMA says it will keep documenting the Taliban dress code arrests and the threats that surround them.