The UN Security Council has unanimously demanded the Taliban reverse its escalating crackdown on Afghan women, following recent detentions of at least 30 women in Herat and the violent suppression of protests that killed one person. The resolution extends the UN mission in Afghanistan as the Taliban continues to bar over 2.2 million girls from education and enforce draconian restrictions on women's public life and personal freedoms.
Taliban restrictions on women
- ▪The UN resolution extends the UN political mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) until June 17, 2027
- ▪The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on June 15, 2026, calling on the Taliban to reverse their crackdown on women
- ▪During protests against the detentions in Herat, Taliban security forces opened fire, killing at least one person and injuring more than 20
- ▪A 2024 Taliban law prohibits women from speaking on the radio, effectively banning them from speaking in public
- ▪Since taking power in August 2021, the Taliban have banned girls from secondary school and, since December 2022, from universities
- ▪Taliban authorities arrested at least 30 women in Herat in early June 2026 for allegedly violating the government's strict dress code
- ▪The U.S. has demanded the Taliban meet counterterrorism commitments and end its "unconscionable abuses" of women's and girls' human rights
- ▪A staff member from Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) was among those detained in Herat for two days in early June 2026
- ▪More than 2.2 million girls in Afghanistan are currently locked out of education due to Taliban policies
Sara Wahedi's educational achievements
- ▪Wahedi, a technology specialist, believes the Taliban's systematic erasure of Afghan women is a calculated survival strategy
- ▪Sara Wahedi, an Afghan activist, graduated from the University of Oxford in May 2026 and previously from Columbia University
Ehtesab security platform operations
- ▪Sara Wahedi co-founded Ehtesab, a mobile app that provided over 250,000 security alerts in Afghanistan from 2020 until it closed in November 2024
- ▪The Ehtesab platform ceased operations due to growing restrictions and risks for its female staff under Taliban rule
Fall of Kabul 2021
- ▪During the fall of Kabul, the Ehtesab platform became a critical information source for evacuations of vulnerable Afghans
- ▪Afghanistan officially fell to the Taliban on August 15, 2021, following the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces
Civaam AI covert tools
- ▪After Ehtesab closed, Sara Wahedi founded Civaam AI, an organization that builds covert digital tools for communities in crisis
- ▪Civaam AI's work includes mapping healthcare access and supporting education and women's networks inside Afghanistan
Afghan women's covert resistance
- ▪Hundreds or thousands of Afghan women have reportedly finished high school covertly using phones or radios despite education bans
- ▪In response to detentions, women and men in Herat held a rare protest calling for “Work, Education, and Freedom.”
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