The women raped by the Taliban: Victims describe horrific sexual abuse at the hands of multiple men as punishment for getting a job or posting on social media

By IMOGEN GARFINKEL - SENIOR FOREIGN NEWS REPORTER Published: 13:23, 7 June 2026 | Updated: 13:23, 7 June 2026 When a mob of armed Taliban fighters arrived at the front door of 22-year-old Tahmina, the model was home alone. It was nearly midnight in early September 2021, shortly after the militant group conquered Kabul and began to implement a brutal system of gender apartheid, erasing women from public life. 'As soon as I opened the door, a group of armed men entered. The first words I heard were, "Kill this whore,"' Tahmina, speaking under a pseudonym, revealed to Afghanistan International. One of the men opened his phone and began filming, as others beat her, tore her shirt open, and subjected her to gang rape, all the while accusing her of 'polluting society'. When Tahmina's husband returned to Afghanistan from work in Pakistan, he immediately filed for divorce - a common outcome for victims of sexual abuse in the country, who are forced to carry the burden of shame. The incident is part of a growing trend of barbaric sexual violence being committed by the Taliban in Afghanistan, as punishment for women and girls who dare to work or post content on social media. Because of the government's strict interpretation of Sharia law, women have been stripped of their fundamental rights to education, employment and free movement, with rape wielded widely as a sadistic weapon against those who dare to resist. At least ten women, including teachers, medical staff, students and civil society activists, have spoken to Afghanistan International about the trauma and social isolation they are living in following brutal rapes by soldiers. The Taliban uses rape as a sadistic weapon against those who dare to resist their crackdown on women's rights in Afghanistan The group has stripped women of their fundamental rights to education, employment and free movement  The United Nations has reported a 40 per cent increase in the risk of violence against women and girls under the Taliban  Tahmina believes her activities as a model, including publishing daily content on TikTok where she had around 50,000 followers, attracted the rage of the Taliban.  The physical and psychological harm that unfolded from the gang rape and subsequent detention led her to give birth to her son prematurely at seven months. After her husband abandoned her, she was forced to seek refuge at her father's house in Kabul but soldiers still managed to hunt her down. This time, the militant group introduced themselves as members of the Taliban’s counter-narcotics department and threatened to arrest her on charges of selling drugs. Tahmina fled again, to Pakistan, where she refused to bow down in fear to the repressive soldiers and revived her TikTok account. But then an account operating under the name Qudratullah Khan began harassing her, threatening that the Taliban could find her no matter where she was hiding. She blocked the account but later received a call from a private number, warning her to unblock it and cooperate with the Taliban. If she didn’t, they threatened to publish videos they said they had filmed of her time in captivity. The United Nations has reported a 40 per cent increase in the risk of violence against women and girls under the Taliban, concluding that 14.2million citizens needed urgent protection and assistance.  Since its return to power, the government has enforced a litany of repressive policies, including endorsing the forced marriages of minors to adults, banning women from entering hospitals if they aren't wearing the burka and barring women from education in schools and universities. Since its return to power, the government has enforced a litany of repressive policies, including banning women from entering hospitals if they aren't wearing the burka  The United Nations has reported a 40 per cent increase in the risk of violence against women and girls under the Taliban Some 14.2million citizens in Afghanistan are said to be in need of urgent protection and assistance When Zuleikha, who also spoke under a pseudonym, regained consciousness after being abducted by Taliban soldiers, she found herself in an 'unfamiliar room, alone and bleeding heavily'. The horror quickly dawned on her that she had been raped. The only memories the 22-year-old could remember from the day before included being smacked with the butt of a rifle and thrown into a car with tinted windows by masked gunmen on her way home from work. She worked in the advertising department for medical products at hospitals and obstetrics clinics in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, the capital and largest city of Balkh Province. Zuleikha had been passionate about medicine since finishing secondary school, but following the armed takeover by the Taliban in 2021, she was repeatedly threatened by militants to stay at home. 'They would say, "Why aren’t your father and brother working so you don’t have to go out?"' Zuleikha told Afghanistan International.  Taliban vehicles began stalking her on her way home from work, filling her with a sense of profound dread.  'When the Taliban were following me, I was terrified, but I didn’t tell my family so they wouldn’t worry or stop me from going to work,' she said.  September 15, 2024, began like any other normal day: she went to work and finished her shift, beginning her journey home. But then Taliban soldiers pulled up beside her, knocked her unconscious, and dragged her into their vehicle, taking her into a detention facility to be raped. When she woke up from the nightmare, two men eventually entered the room.  She bravely asked why they had brought her there, and a soldier replied: 'You whores have ruined the country.' 'I repeatedly begged the guards for sanitary pads, but they ignored me,' Zuleikha said. 'At one point, they gave me pills that made me faint. I don’t know what happened to me during that time.' She was escorted to another room multiple times, where she was gang raped by soldiers and her back, thighs and legs were whipped. The Taliban filmed their assault and threatened to use the footage as blackmail: 'If you continue this, we will broadcast the film and ruin your reputation. 'At that moment, I wanted to die of shame. Every time I screamed, they called me a whore and cursed me.' During the interrogation, a militant questioned why she hadn’t observed the Taliban’s mandatory hijab.  He then whipped out a blade, cut her hair, and handed the strands back to her. After four traumatic days in detention, Zuleikha was escorted to another room where an elderly man was waiting for her. 'He made me sign papers and warned me never to work again and to observe the Islamic hijab,' she said. Taliban gunmen proceeded to drive her away and abandoned her in a remote area, without a phone to call anyone for help. 'They threw me in a field full of grass. I couldn’t walk. I don’t know how long I walked before I reached a road. It was deserted, with no cars passing. Eventually, a taxi stopped. I asked the driver for his phone and called my father,' she said. It has now been nearly four months since the assault, and Zuleikha finds herself tormented by suicidal thoughts. Once, she attempted to take her own life by overdosing on medication.  The suicide attempt left her with facial palsy, and medical records she shared with Afghanistan International show she has been diagnosed with a severe depressive disorder.  She now keeps her troubling PTSD at bay by taking prescribed antidepressants, antiviral sedatives and steroids. The Taliban adhere to no laws or principles, says Ahmad Zia Saraj, the former chief of Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security Since the Taliban returned to power in 2021 in the wake of the chaotic withdrawal of US and NATO forces, the constant threat of extrajudicial killings has returned as a bleak aspect of everyday life  'In the past, despite existing challenges, there was a lawful government,' Ahmad Zia Saraj, the former chief of the country’s National Directorate of Security, told Afghanistan International. 'At that time, there was considerable pressure to ensure that prisoners were not tortured or mistreated,' he said, adding that cameras installed by their authorities to deter potential abuses were now being deployed to film and blackmail female victims instead. '[The Taliban] adhere to no laws or principles, and I believe there may be hundreds of other incidents that no one knows about.' The entire judicial framework of the country, including courts and prosecution units, has been dismantled, eradicating any system for victims to seek justice. Public executions were common during the Taliban's first rule from 1996 to 2001, with most of them carried out in sports stadiums. Since the Taliban returned to power in 2021 in the wake of the chaotic withdrawal of US and NATO forces, the constant threat of extrajudicial killings has returned as a bleak aspect of everyday life. Former journalism student Pari, who spoke under a pseudonym, received an official notice saying she had been sentenced to death by stoning. On January 19, 2022, the 24-year-old was returning from a Kabul hospital with relatives when she was abruptly arrested by intelligence forces. 'The Taliban had blocked the road. They came with heavy weapons to arrest me. We were surrounded by the Taliban,' she told Afghanistan International, adding that she believes she was targeted for her prominent role in anti-Taliban women’s rights demonstrations at the time. 'I tried to be strong so that they wouldn’t feel that I was scared, but the truth was that I was very scared. My biggest fear was that they would kill the children, because my nieces were also in the car,' she said. The soldiers began beating her, put a bag over her head and tied up her hands. Desperate to escape, she tried to throw herself out of the car, but a soldier hit her on the head with a rifle butt and gave her an electric shock. Pari was escorted to the Taliban's Directorate 90, where soldiers accused her of abandoning Islam and receiving money from foreign countries to organise anti-Taliban protests. The next day, she said, she received an official notice for her execution. Despite the death warrant sealing her fate, guards still subjected her to seemingly endless hours of relentless torture with cables, punches and kicks. She spent the night writhing in excruciating pain, and begged the Taliban to give her paracetamol, but her pleas went ignored. The following day, the Taliban transferred Pari to a new cell. 'On the floor, there was only a mattress, two blankets and a dirty pillow full of dust. Next to it was another room with blood stains and damp walls. The bathroom and toilet were all in this room,' she said. By noon, the guards had left for Friday prayers, when a masked man entered her cell. 'A man opened the door. His face was covered. He gave me two paracetamol pills and said: "Take these and don’t tell anyone."' She fainted after taking the pills. 'All I remember is that it was noon and I was sitting on the mattress. When I regained consciousness, I found myself in the corner of the room. My body was in extreme pain. I was bleeding. It was dark and it was night time. My headscarf was no longer on my head.' On waking up, she realised she had been raped while unconscious, and the overwhelming trauma led her to attempt suicide.  'I took all the remaining pills to die, but I didn’t die. I felt worse than dead.' Pari eventually managed to flee to Germany and avoid her death sentence, but there she noticed that her menstrual cycle was disrupted, and doctors confirmed signs of rape.  She has since lodged a complaint against her abusers at the International Criminal Court. The human rights arm of the UN warned in a March report that life for ordinary Afghans, especially women and girls, has severely worsened under Taliban rule  Women deemed not to be complying with the chador requirement - the traditional Islamic full-body cloak - have been removed from public transport and denied access to public markets and services  'Will you take off your shirt, or should we bring in your little sister?'  Those were the words a Taliban soldier announced to Zarmina Paryani, a midwife and prominent participant in street demonstrations when the militant group returned to power. On January 19, 2022, Taliban intelligence forces raided her home, where she was staying with her three sisters - Tamana Zaryab Paryani, a bodybuilding champion, Karishma and Shafiqa. The soldiers started pounding on their front door, and Tamana, instantly full of panic, began recording a video on her phone, later sending the footage to a reporter. The video, which quickly went viral across social media, shows her saying, 'Gunmen have come to arrest me,' before screaming, 'Help! the Taliban have come to my house!' In desperation, Zarmina attempted to jump off the apartment balcony.  Her three sisters rushed to stop her, grabbing her shirt which tore as she plunged semi-nude to the ground from the third floor.  After sustaining serious injuries, she was detained alongside Karishma and Shafiqa, while Tamana was taken to her own individual cell. Throughout the night, Tamana was repeatedly beaten. At 3am, soldiers escorted Zarmina to a separate room, where her interrogators demanded to know the supposed sources of foreign support helping to fund her anti-Taliban activism.  She sternly denies any foreign backing. The Taliban used her torn shirt as an excuse to sexually harass her in prison, she said, with Qari Saaed, an official in the Taliban’s Intelligence Directorate 90 in Kabul, accusing her of attempting to defame them. It was then that they began to threaten her, demanding that she strip or they'd target her siblings.  To protect her younger sisters from violence, Zarmina complied and removed her clothes, as cameras in the cell filmed the entire episode. Tamana told Afghanistan International that soldiers accessed her personal mobile phone and saved private pictures, some of them showing her a state of semi-undress. After almost a month in detention, the Paryani sisters were released, but they were warned by Taliban officials: 'If you try to speak against us again, we have something to publish.' The human rights arm of the UN delivered a damning assessment of conditions in Afghanistan in a report released in March, warning that life for ordinary Afghans, especially women and girls, has severely worsened under Taliban rule. Presenting the report, UN Human Rights chief Volker Türk said: 'The cascade of edicts and laws announced by the authorities since coming to power in 2021 is having a crushing impact on the Afghan people, particularly women and girls.' Women remain excluded from all education above primary school age, following a ban from higher education since December 2022. In November 2025, medical graduation examinations were held without the participation of women for the second consecutive year, after having been banned from medical institutes since December 2024.  Women deemed not to be complying with the chador requirement - the traditional Islamic full-body cloak - have been removed from public transport and denied access to public markets and services.  Meanwhile, a new law demands that girls wait until puberty before seeking to get out of a marriage, and also requires mediation for women seeking to escape an abusive husband.  'The authorities have, in effect, criminalised the presence of women and girls in public life,' Türk said. 'Discrimination affects their healthcare, their access to civic space, and their freedom of movement and expression.' 'Afghanistan is a graveyard for human rights,' he concluded. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. 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