The UN Women has revealed that five years after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, women and girls still face deepening restrictions on their rights, movement, education, employment, and access to public life.

This is contained in new data from UN Women, which shows that half of Afghan women interviewed leave their homes only once or twice a month.

UN Women said the restrictions imposed since the Taliban seized power in August 2021 have systematically dismantled the rights of women and girls, making Afghanistan a global outlier with no parallel in the modern world.

According to the organisation, the de facto authorities have issued more than 100 decrees targeting women and girls over the past five years, institutionalising discrimination and stripping them of fundamental rights.

It said the exclusion of women and girls from education, employment, public life, justice systems, and healthcare had intensified over the past year, entrenching what remains the world’s most severe women’s rights crisis.

UN Women warned that the crisis was at risk of being forgotten by the international community.

The organisation said women were increasingly unequal before the law following the introduction of further decrees in 2026.

It said Decree No. 12 abolished legal equality between men and women before the law, placing husbands in a position of legal authority over their wives and limiting women’s ability to seek justice.

The decree also criminalises violence within marriage only when it results in severe, visible physical injuries.

Similarly, Decree No. 18 makes it significantly harder for women to leave marriages while preserving men’s unilateral right to divorce. UN Women said the decree also implicitly permits child marriage.

The organisation said the restrictions were also worsening the health crisis among Afghan women and girls.

“Seven in 10 women now describe their mental health as bad or very bad,” it said, citing its latest data.

UN Women attributed the deteriorating mental health situation to confinement at home, increased exposure to violence, loss of rights and opportunities, limited physical activity, and reduced access to community and emotional support.

Access to healthcare has also become increasingly difficult because of restrictions on women’s movement and growing shortages of female nurses and doctors.

Afghanistan already has one of the world’s highest maternal mortality rates, with an estimated 638 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 2024.

The organisation said restrictions on movement and access to public spaces intensified in 2025, with more than half of women reporting that they leave their homes only twice a month or less.

Nearly three-quarters of women told UN Women they feel unsafe leaving home without a male guardian, or mahram, while more than half said they avoid public spaces, including markets and health facilities.

UN Women said a growing system of surveillance and enforcement, involving thousands of men and women with wide-ranging powers to detain people, had created a palpable sense of fear and insecurity, particularly among women and girls.

On education, the organisation said Afghanistan remains the only country enforcing a systematic ban on girls attending high school and women attending university.

It warned that the restrictions could have long-term consequences for essential services, with Afghanistan potentially losing more than 25,000 female teachers and health workers by 2030 if the restrictions persist.

UN Women noted that more than 10.7 million Afghan women and girls require humanitarian assistance in 2026.

It said deteriorating health outcomes, food insecurity and shrinking access to services delivered by female professionals were deepening the humanitarian crisis.

The continuing return of Afghans from Iran and Pakistan is also putting additional pressure on already stretched communities and local economies.

Fewer than one in five Afghan women returning from Iran and Pakistan can earn an income, contributing to rising debt and food insecurity among returnee families.

The organisation added that restrictions on women working for non-governmental organisations, combined with international aid cuts, were making it harder to deliver assistance to women and girls.

Women’s participation in the Afghan labour force also remains chronically low, with only seven per cent of women employed compared with 84 per cent of men.

UN Women projected that the continued social and economic exclusion of women could result in cumulative losses of $920 million, equivalent to 5.8 per cent of Afghanistan’s GDP, between 2024 and 2026.

The organisation further disclosed that nearly three-quarters of women-led organisations surveyed in Afghanistan experienced funding cuts in 2025, while more than half expected to suspend operations or close within the following year.

It said women’s organisations remain among the last lifelines for Afghan women and girls, providing protection from violence, healthcare, mental health and psychosocial support, livelihoods and humanitarian assistance.

UN Women said it would continue working across Afghanistan to support women and girls to stay safe, build their skills, earn a living, access vital services, receive emergency support and participate in humanitarian responses.

Members of Trump’s cabinet remained on decoy plane after his exit
Two members of United States President Donald Trump’s cabinet were on a decoy plane that Trump secretly exited before boarding a different flight in Turkey last month, CBS News reported.

Secretary of State, Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, remained aboard what was believed to be Air Force One and did not join the flight provided to Trump over security concerns involving Iran.

After Trump entered Air Force One on July 8 with both officials and members of the press, he hid on a catering truck to be clandestinely transported to a military plane.

The label “Air Force One” applies to any plane the president is on, but in this case the original craft kept the call signal, turning it into a decoy.

According to CBS, Rubio and Bessent remained on board the first aircraft to maintain the line of succession in the event something happened to Trump

In the event that the president dies or is incapacitated, Vice-President JD Vance would take power, followed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate.

The Secretary of State comes next in line, followed by the treasury secretary.

Others who stayed on the initial aircraft designated as Air Force One included White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and Steven Cheung, the White House’s communications director.

The BBC has contacted the White House for comment.