PUBLIC STATEMENT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
10 June 2026

Taliban Forces Open Fire on Protesters in Herat as Crackdown on Women Escalates
We condemn in the strongest terms the lethal use of force by Taliban security personnel against protesters in Herat on 9 June 2026, and the continuing mass arbitrary detention of women and girls that provoked it.
Following days of mass arrests of women by the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, residents, women and men gathered in the Jebrail area of Herat to demand the release of those detained. Taliban forces responded with gunfire, sticks, and whips. Credible reports, including from medical sources, indicate that at least two people, reportedly including a woman and a child, were killed and many others wounded. Families have been afraid to bring the injured to government hospitals for fear of arrest and reprisal. The de facto authorities have denied both the detentions and the use of force.
This bloodshed is the direct result of an intensifying campaign against women in Herat, where the morality police have for months stopped, harassed, and detained women over dress-code restrictions. Many of those seized in recent days remain held incommunicado, their whereabouts withheld from their families conduct that meets the definition of enforced disappearance and arbitrary detention under international law, and that now compounds the killing and wounding of those who protested it.
These acts constitute extreme gender-based persecution and a flagrant breach of Afghanistan’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Impunity cannot continue.
Recommendations
● Halt the violence and release the detained. The Taliban must immediately cease the use of force against protesters, unconditionally release all detained women and girls, disclose their whereabouts and legal status to their families, and end all release fees.
● Account for the dead and wounded. There must be an independent, credible investigation into the killings and injuries in Herat, with those responsible held accountable.
● End the campaign and protect those at risk. The Taliban must stop the arbitrary arrest and harassment of women, rescind the edicts underpinning these abuses, and protect protesters, the released, and their families from reprisal.
● Activate international accountability. Member States should impose targeted sanctions, asset freezes and travel bans on those directing these detentions and the use of lethal force, while UNAMA, OHCHR, and the Special Rapporteur maintain real-time public documentation and reporting.
● The international community must not allow these abuses to be normalized. The events in Herat are part of a broader pattern of systematic discrimination, repression, and exclusion of women and girls across Afghanistan. We stand in solidarity with the women and girls of Herat and demand their release, their protection, justice for victims, and accountability for those responsible.