An investigation by Afghan journalists has documented 231 cases of women killed in 10 provinces since the Taliban returned to power, highlighting what reporters describe as a system in which domestic violence deaths are frequently hidden, misclassified or left unpunished.
The investigation, carried out by Zan Times, a collective of journalists working under cover inside Afghanistan, drew on 174 cases reported by local media and 57 previously unreported cases documented directly by reporters. It found that women and girls were often killed in their homes by husbands, fathers, brothers or other male relatives, while arrests were recorded in only a quarter of the cases.
The findings come amid the dismantling of legal and institutional protections for women since August 2021. The Taliban has abolished the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, ended the special prosecutor’s office for violence against women and closed the country’s shelter network. Around 250 female judges were removed from the bench, and female prosecutors were sent home.
The Taliban does not collect public data on the number of women killed each year. The attorney general’s office, which previously collated such information, was abolished in 2023. Zan Times said its dataset was not a national total, but a snapshot of killings in 10 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces, where journalists were able to gather information despite security risks and threats.
One of the cases examined was that of 33-year-old Liza Shams, who died in Kabul on 1 February after being taken to hospital by her sisters. In voice messages recorded before her death, she described being beaten by her husband, Hasibullah Sarwari, including while pregnant, and said she had been left injured and isolated.
Her father, Shamsuddin Shams, said he received a video call from his daughter shortly before she died. He said her jaw appeared broken and that she could barely speak, but managed to communicate that her husband had beaten her again. Her sisters took her to Rahmat hospital in Kabul, where she died about an hour after arriving.
Medical documents cited in the investigation recorded extensive injuries to her face and body. CT scan findings described multiple fractures to her cheekbones and sinus walls, consistent with severe blunt-force trauma. Photographs and a physical examination documented bruising, swelling and injuries across her body.
Despite the injuries, the forensic report listed the likely cause of death as ingestion of rat poison and noted that no autopsy had been performed at the family’s request. Shamsuddin Shams said that request came from his daughter’s in-laws. Sarwari’s family did not respond to questions from the investigators, but have argued that Liza took her own life and that bruising on her body was caused by poison. Her father believes she was murdered.
Suicide was recorded in 53 of the 231 cases reviewed by Zan Times. Reporters found that more than one in five deaths were officially declared suicides, sometimes despite evidence or testimony suggesting violence. A healthcare worker in Jawzjan province told the investigators that many dead women brought to hospital and labelled as suicide cases had visible signs of beating, with wounds and bruises on their bodies.
The provinces with the highest recorded numbers in the investigation were Jawzjan, with 36 cases, Herat with 32, Badakhshan with 28 and Ghazni with 26. Victims ranged in age from girls of five to women aged 65. Of the 231 victims, 165 were described as housewives, leaving them with no independent income or institutional standing to pursue domestic violence complaints.
Only 58 arrests were recorded across the dataset. Zan Times said that even where arrests were made, suspects were sometimes released quickly, in some cases after just one day. Many killings were never formally entered into official records, according to the investigation.
The report also described the case of Freshta Emady, 33, a UN agency employee in Kabul who was found dead at home on 31 May. Her husband reportedly told Taliban police she had killed herself, citing a psychiatric condition. Five people who knew her told the investigators that she had endured years of abuse after being married at 17, including beatings, strangulation and controlling behaviour. Her family and friends believe she was killed by her husband.
In another case, a 14-year-old girl in Kandahar was killed after being given in marriage to a much older man. According to the investigation, she fled back to her father’s family after violence by her husband. When he came to force her to return in October 2024 and she refused, he shot her. Her younger brother, who ran to help, was also shot and died a week later. A file was opened, but the husband, described as a serving Taliban member, was not arrested.
In Sar-e-Pol province in May, 16-year-old Sara and her mother, Chaman, an Iranian-trained doctor, were shot dead by a local Taliban official who had forced an engagement on Sara, according to the investigation. When Chaman refused to hand her daughter over without the agreed dowry, the official beat her with his rifle and shot both mother and daughter as Sara ran towards her. He was later captured after a manhunt and remains in jail.
The investigation points to Taliban legal changes that have reduced consequences for domestic violence while penalising women who seek refuge. Under the Taliban’s criminal code, a husband who beats his wife to the point of visible injury, including fractures or wounds, faces a maximum sentence of 15 days in prison. If a wife goes to her family’s home without her husband’s permission and her family does not return her on request, the wife and her family can face three months in prison.
Women’s access to justice has also been narrowed. Afghan law no longer permits a woman to be a direct party to her own legal case, meaning mothers cannot pursue cases on behalf of daughters in their own name. In Takhar province, the mother of a 23-year-old woman who was stabbed and set on fire by her husband in May 2025 told reporters she was ordered by a local court to transfer power of attorney to her husband because a woman could not directly petition the court. Months later, the case had not progressed.
Afghan women already faced high levels of gender-based violence before the Taliban returned to power. UN Women’s 2024 Afghanistan Gender Index, published in June 2025, found that nearly 35% of Afghan women reported violence from a partner in 2018, compared with a global average of 13%.
Zan Times said fear prevented reporters from interviewing many families of victims. In several provinces, journalists received threats after trying to make contact. The collective said the 231 cases should be understood as evidence of wider patterns, rather than a full measure of femicide in Afghanistan.
Liza Shams’s case is expected to be decided by a Taliban court. Her father has published voice recordings, hospital footage and documents on social media as part of a campaign for justice. He said his daughters, who took Liza to hospital, were later summoned by the Taliban and had gone into hiding. He said the family had faced pressure because they spoke publicly about the case.
In one message released by her father, Liza described feeling trapped in her marriage and worried about the effect of violence on her children. “I feel like I’m suffocating,” she said. “Our life can’t go on like this.”
