The Human Rights Service of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has issued its latest quarterly report covering July 1 to September 30, 2026, documenting a severe escalation in state-sanctioned arbitrary detentions, institutional harassment, and systematic rights violations.
According to the report, inspectors from the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice executed 443 arbitrary arrests and detentions alongside 97 documented cases of physical ill-treatment. The enforcement actions targeted individuals for alleged non-compliance with compulsory hijab directives, beard regulations, prayer attendance, and bans on music. In Kabul and Herat alone, over 50 women and girls were detained or threatened by morality police over dress code standards and public mobility without male guardians (mahrams).
The findings also highlight the ongoing erosion of civil liberties, marking five years of sustained restrictions on female secondary and higher education. UNAMA recorded four extrajudicial killings and 14 arbitrary detentions targeting former government and security personnel, alongside severe curbs on media freedom—including broadcast suspensions of outlets such as Radio Azadi, Alpys, and Rāh-i Farda, arbitrary arrests of journalists, and judicial corporal punishment enforced against 28 individuals. Furthermore, authorities revoked the operational charter of Kateb al-Nabiyyin University, further shrinking academic spaces.
Beyond internal enforcement, UNAMA documented significant external civilian harm along border corridors, recording 33 civilian casualties—including 13 deaths and 20 injuries—resulting from military strikes and cross-border shelling across the Durand Line. The findings underscore a compounding governance and human rights crisis, as international bodies continue to urge accountability for systemic abuses across the country.