09/10/2026
The Taliban: From Suppressing Protests to Their Official Prohibition – Women’s Resistance Continues
The difficult path of Afghan women toward attaining their fundamental rights has entered a new and more dangerous phase with the official ban on all forms of demonstrations. On August 22, 2026, the Taliban Ministry of Justice published the “Police Law”, Article Fifty of which explicitly states: “Any demonstration within the territory of Afghanistan is prohibited”. Prior to this, the Taliban had always suppressed peaceful protests and women’s demonstrations with gunfire and violence, but now, with this new law, they have declared it an openly prosecutable crime. Organizations such as Human Rights Watch have described this measure as “a ruthless step to suffocate the last remaining civil spaces.” Nevertheless, Afghan women have not abandoned their struggle; rather, they have transformed their tactics—moving from the streets to hidden spaces, from high-risk gatherings to symbolic and virtual actions, without relinquishing their demands.
1. The Taliban’s Narrative on the Ban
Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, in a press conference justifying this anti-democratic law, described demonstrations as “waste of time, damage to property, disorder, and promiscuity,” and emphasized that such actions “belong to societies that have separate laws and democratic systems”. In his view, under the Islamic system, people should directly convey their demands to the government and have no need for street gatherings. This narrative defines any public protest not as a civil right, but as an anomaly against the desired order. Article Fifty of the Police Law effectively removes all dissenting voices from the public sphere, turning the government into one that criminalizes the slightest discord.
2. Women: From the Streets to Hiding
With increasing pressures, holding any gathering in public spaces has become fraught with the risk of arrest, threats, and even death. Nonetheless, women protesters and the Spontaneous Movement of Afghan Women (SMAW) have found new paths. They say: “Our protest is not just standing in the streets; we have changed our methods of struggle, but our will has not weakened and our goal has not changed”. They have now turned to smaller gatherings and enclosed spaces; while covering their faces to protect their identities, they hold up protest writings and slogans, and share images and videos on social media.
Alongside these online activities, graffiti on walls and symbolic actions have also become new forms of protest. Although these methods lack the impact of large-scale demonstrations, they show that the will to fight remains unbroken. The SMAW continues to struggle for the right to education, the right to work, the right to freedom of movement, the right to participate in society, the right to make decisions, the right to a future, and the right to a life of dignity without discrimination.
3. The EU Speaking of Human Rights, Yet Cooperating with the Taliban
On the other hand, the conduct of some Western countries stands in glaring contradiction to this grim reality. According to reports, European Union countries, particularly Germany, have intensified the deportation of Afghan asylum seekers, including families, and this year alone Germany has returned more than 200 Afghan refugees to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. This comes at a time when the Taliban continue to impose the harshest restrictions on women, and the protest ban is the latest link in the chain of repression and death.
This policy raises fundamental questions: Are these countries genuinely committed to democratic values and women’s rights, or do political interests and migration control take precedence over every moral and humanitarian principle? Deporting asylum seekers to a land where their security and basic rights are clearly violated not only contravenes human rights standards but also effectively lends covert legitimacy to the Taliban. When cooperation with the Taliban on border control expands simultaneously with the suppression of women, the message is clear: Afghan women’s rights have become a tradeable commodity in the face of Western countries’ interests.
4. Women’s Struggle Continues
The Taliban’s ban on demonstrations, although it will severely restrict collective action, can never break the will of Afghanistan’s Spontaneous Movement of Afghan Women. They will shift from street protests to covert and underground resistance in order to reclaim their rights. They will use every possible means to raise their voices and protest against the Taliban’s gender apartheid regime, proving that changing methods of struggle never means surrender or abandoning objectives. In this, Afghan women need the solidarity of progressive women around the world and defenders of women’s rights. We call on the EU and the international community to abandon double standards, to stand united against repression, and instead of normalizing relations with the Taliban, to hold them accountable for violating women’s rights. Otherwise, history will judge not only the oppressors but also those who remain silent and those who engage in expedient deals.
The Spontaneous Movement of Afghan Women (SMAW)
Afghanistan
[email protected]
