The Taliban has created "the world's most serious women's rights crisis" since returning to power in Afghanistan in August 2021, Human Rights Watch (HRW) says.
Under the Taliban rule, Afghanistan has become the only country where girls are banned from going to school beyond the sixth grade, HRW said in a press release on August 11.
The Taliban has also "undermined women's right to freedom of movement, banned them from many forms of employment, dismantled protections for women and girls experiencing gender-based violence, created barriers to them accessing health care, and barred them from playing sports, and even visiting parks."
The pressures on Afghan women come as their country is also experiencing a major humanitarian crisis, with aid severely underfunded and thousands of Afghan refugees forced back into Afghanistan from Pakistan.
Women and girls are among the most seriously affected by this humanitarian crisis, HRW said.
The situation has been described by the United Nations special rapporteur on Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, as "an institutionalized system of discrimination, segregation, disrespect for human dignity, and exclusion of women and girls," HRW said.
"Under the Taliban's abusive rule, Afghan women and girls are living their worst nightmares," HRW's Fereshta Abbasi said.
Abbasi urged all governments to "support efforts to hold the Taliban leadership and all those responsible for serious crimes in Afghanistan to account."
Abbasi said countries engaging with the Taliban-led government in Kabul should consistently remind it that its "abuses against women and girls and all Afghans violate Afghanistan's obligations under international law."
More than half of Afghanistan's population -- 23 million people -- face food insecurity, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Restrictions that the Taliban authorities have imposed on women and girls have impeded access to health care, jeopardizing their right to health, HRW noted.
The Taliban's bans on girls' education inevitably leads to future shortages of female health workers, HRW said.
The rights group called on donor countries to find ways to mitigate the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan without reinforcing the Taliban's repressive policies against women and girls.
