Taliban security personnel stand guard ahead of a public flogging of 27 women and men at a football stadium in Charikar city of Parwan province on December 8, 2022 in front of a large crowd.AFP/via Getty Images hide caption We have previously reported on the Taliban's position that public flogging (as well as stoning) are appropriate corporal punishment if they believe a citizen has violated certain precepts –- enabling girls to be educated despite the ban on secondary education for females, for example, or engaging in an adulterous relationship.
Have Taliban authorities been employing these methods?About This SeriesWe're revisiting some of our past global health and development stories to see "Whatever happened to ..."In March 2024, NPR reported on a statement issued by the Taliban's usually elusive supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada announcing a return to a type of punishment in its justice system."We will flog the women ...
we will stone them to death in public [for crimes]," he said in an audio message.True to his words, the Taliban have gradually increased public and violent punishments.According to an April 2026 report by the Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organization (AHRDO), an nongovernmental organization that investigates human rights violations in Afghanistan.
Between February 2022 and April 2026, AHRDO documented 2,745 individuals who had been subjected to corporal punishment drawn from the Taliban's own public records.The U.N.has documented similar figures, in a report in March 2026.
Citing at least 1,110 flogging cases last year, the U.N.states: "in 2025 alone, more men and women were subjected to public flogging than in all previous years combined."These counts are based on cases published by the Taliban's Supreme Court on their website and social media channels and in over 500 press releases.
Advocates believe ...