Institutionalized Punishment and Public Flogging
The final quarter of 2025 underscored Afghanistan’s deepening descent into systematic repression under the Taliban. Between October 1 and December 31, 287 individuals, including 30 women and four minors, faced public floggings for alleged offenses such as adultery, extramarital relations, homosexuality, and theft, according to the UNAMA human rights report. Many were also sentenced to 10 months to six years in prison. By using stadiums and public squares for these punishments, the Taliban transformed civil spaces into arenas of intimidation, signaling the consolidation of retributive justice as a central instrument of ideological enforcement. Public executions continued, with two documented this quarter, exemplifying the regime’s reliance on extreme visibility to reinforce compliance.
Gender Exclusion and Humanitarian Paralysis
Afghan women faced systematic erasure from public and professional life. Since September 2025, women, including UN staff and contractors, have been barred from all UN premises nationwide, severely disrupting humanitarian operations such as earthquake relief and refugee support. Concurrently, bans on girls’ higher education, female medical examinations, and beauty salons curtailed economic participation, exacerbating healthcare deficits and long-term social exclusion.
Codifying Control: PVPV Law and Moral Policing
The 2024 Law on the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (PVPV) formalized pervasive social control. Between October and December, UNAMA documented at least 520 arbitrary arrests for dress code and behavior “violations.” By deputizing men as enforcers within households, the regime expanded surveillance into domestic spaces, restricting freedom of movement and access to healthcare, and embedding fear across society.
Minorities and Vulnerable Communities
Ethnic and religious minorities,including Hazara Shias and Ismailis,faced systematic violence, intimidation, and coercion across multiple provinces. Reports indicate targeted killings, forced displacement, and social exclusion designed to erode community cohesion and instill fear. The Taliban’s policies have restricted access to education, healthcare, and livelihoods for these groups, effectively marginalizing them from public and economic life. These measures demonstrate a calculated strategy to enforce ideological conformity, weaken potential opposition, and exploit existing societal divisions, ensuring that vulnerable populations remain politically and socially disenfranchised while reinforcing the regime’s control over Afghan society.
International Accountability Measures
Global mechanisms are mobilizing to hold the Taliban accountable, with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and International Criminal Court (ICC) investigating gender-based persecution and crimes against humanity. However, these efforts remain slow and largely ineffective on the ground, allowing the Taliban to exploit delays and ambiguities to entrench repressive laws. CEDAW-based initiatives and arrest warrants target top leadership, signaling international intent, yet limited enforcement capacity has enabled the regime to consolidate power and systematically expand social control.
Conclusion
Late 2025 represents a period of systematic regression in Afghanistan, marked by institutionalized corporal punishment, gender-based exclusion, and the targeting of vulnerable communities. The Taliban’s governance model hinges on ideological control and social repression. Effective change requires sustained international oversight, legal accountability, and support for humanitarian operations to protect women, minorities, and other at-risk populations.
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Afghanistan’s Regressive Turn Under the Taliban in Late 2025
Institutionalized Punishment and Public Flogging
The final quarter of 2025 underscored Afghanistan’s deepening descent into systematic repression under the Taliban. Between October 1 and December 31, 287 individuals, including 30 women and four minors, faced public floggings for alleged offenses such as adultery, extramarital relations, homosexuality, and theft, according to the UNAMA human rights report. Many were also sentenced to 10 months to six years in prison. By using stadiums and public squares for these punishments, the Taliban transformed civil spaces into arenas of intimidation, signaling the consolidation of retributive justice as a central instrument of ideological enforcement. Public executions continued, with two documented this quarter, exemplifying the regime’s reliance on extreme visibility to reinforce compliance.
Gender Exclusion and Humanitarian Paralysis
Afghan women faced systematic erasure from public and professional life. Since September 2025, women, including UN staff and contractors, have been barred from all UN premises nationwide, severely disrupting humanitarian operations such as earthquake relief and refugee support. Concurrently, bans on girls’ higher education, female medical examinations, and beauty salons curtailed economic participation, exacerbating healthcare deficits and long-term social exclusion.
Codifying Control: PVPV Law and Moral Policing
The 2024 Law on the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (PVPV) formalized pervasive social control. Between October and December, UNAMA documented at least 520 arbitrary arrests for dress code and behavior “violations.” By deputizing men as enforcers within households, the regime expanded surveillance into domestic spaces, restricting freedom of movement and access to healthcare, and embedding fear across society.
Minorities and Vulnerable Communities
Ethnic and religious minorities,including Hazara Shias and Ismailis,faced systematic violence, intimidation, and coercion across multiple provinces. Reports indicate targeted killings, forced displacement, and social exclusion designed to erode community cohesion and instill fear. The Taliban’s policies have restricted access to education, healthcare, and livelihoods for these groups, effectively marginalizing them from public and economic life. These measures demonstrate a calculated strategy to enforce ideological conformity, weaken potential opposition, and exploit existing societal divisions, ensuring that vulnerable populations remain politically and socially disenfranchised while reinforcing the regime’s control over Afghan society.
International Accountability Measures
Global mechanisms are mobilizing to hold the Taliban accountable, with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and International Criminal Court (ICC) investigating gender-based persecution and crimes against humanity. However, these efforts remain slow and largely ineffective on the ground, allowing the Taliban to exploit delays and ambiguities to entrench repressive laws. CEDAW-based initiatives and arrest warrants target top leadership, signaling international intent, yet limited enforcement capacity has enabled the regime to consolidate power and systematically expand social control.
Conclusion
Late 2025 represents a period of systematic regression in Afghanistan, marked by institutionalized corporal punishment, gender-based exclusion, and the targeting of vulnerable communities. The Taliban’s governance model hinges on ideological control and social repression. Effective change requires sustained international oversight, legal accountability, and support for humanitarian operations to protect women, minorities, and other at-risk populations.
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