Whatever happened to the Taliban threat: 'We will flog the women'?

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?

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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. A report by the Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organization (AHRDO), an nongovernmental organization that investigates human rights violations, 2,745 individuals who had been subjected to corporal punishment between February and April. The numbers were 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 that there may be cases that are not documented in court records — instances when Taliban authorities confront and flog the accused on the spot, such as women violating the Taliban's strict dress code.

MA is an activist in Afghanistan who shared a video with NPR that shows the public flogging of a woman, reportedly in Kandahar province. She asked to be identified only by her initials, fearing repercussions from the Taliban for calling attention to flogging.