Herat, a historic city in western Afghanistan, has become the epicenter of renewed tension after women-led protests were violently dispersed by Taliban forces. According to testimonies collected and reported by El País, the demonstrations—initially driven by anger over arrests of women for allegedly violating strict dress codes—were met with gunfire, detentions, and a rapid tightening of security measures that residents say has transformed the city into a space of fear and near silence.
Among those who took part in the protests was Fawzia, an 18-year-old using a false name to protect her identity. She recalls that she was just 13 when the Taliban returned to power in 2021 and shut down secondary education for girls, abruptly ending her access to schooling and, as she describes it, to her future. Last Tuesday, she said, she found herself at a demonstration in the Jibrail area on the outskirts of Herat, where hundreds of men and women gathered in response to recent detentions of Afghan women accused of not wearing the burka.
The protests, she explained, were sparked by a series of arrests in which women were allegedly taken off the streets and placed into white vans for failing to comply with enforced dress regulations. The burka, which covers the entire body and face with only a mesh opening for the eyes, has become central to recent restrictions, further intensifying already stringent rules governing women’s public presence.
Fawzia described a chaotic and violent scene as Taliban forces confronted the demonstrators. She said she saw armed men firing on the crowd before she and her mother, Ariana, managed to escape and hide in a nearby vehicle. The slogans shouted during the protest reflected both longstanding and emerging demands, including calls for “education and work,” alongside the chant “Woman, life, freedom,” a phrase that had previously resonated in regional protests beyond Afghanistan.
The United Nations mission in Afghanistan, UNAMA, reported that at least one minor was killed during the crackdown, while videos circulating on social media showed protesters being beaten with sticks and whips. Activists say the response did not end with the dispersal of the crowd. Jahanzib Wesa, speaking from Australia, described what he called a “hunt” by Taliban intelligence services targeting women in Herat, particularly those involved in organizing recent demonstrations.
Since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, public dissent has been limited, but women’s protests have remained one of the most visible forms of resistance. Over time, Afghan women have staged small but symbolic demonstrations against a growing list of restrictions, including bans on education beyond the age of 12, severe limits on employment, travel restrictions requiring a male guardian, and rules governing speech and movement in public spaces. These regulations form part of what the United Nations has described as a system of “gender apartheid,” comprising more than 140 directives affecting women’s lives.
According to human rights organizations cited in the reporting, these early protests were quickly met with arrests, threats, torture, and forced exile. Despite this, women have continued to resist through informal education networks, online learning, clandestine activism, and symbolic acts of defiance captured and shared on social media.
In Herat, however, residents say the situation has recently escalated further. Fawzia and her mother participated in earlier demonstrations in January, and subsequent protests gained momentum as Taliban authorities intensified enforcement of dress codes, including renewed pressure on women to wear the burka. In April, groups of teenage girls staged a separate act of protest by covering their faces with books in front of closed schools, highlighting the continuing ban on female education.
Another activist, Elham, aged 24, described a sharp increase in security operations following the latest protests. She said several dozen people, both men and women, gathered peacefully outside Taliban administrative offices before being dispersed again by gunfire. According to her account, homes have been searched and mobile phones confiscated, while many women have deleted their social media profiles out of fear of arrest.
Wesa added that the visible presence of women in Herat has sharply declined, saying that many now avoid public spaces altogether. Reports also indicate that at least 48 women were detained in the days leading up to the protests, according to figures cited by the organization Femena. The pattern of arrests has contributed to a climate in which, as Elham described it, women appear to have “disappeared overnight” from public view.
One of those detained, a 24-year-old woman identified as Tamana, recounted her experience after being arrested alongside her mother at a market in Herat. She said they had gone to purchase a burka following a new order requiring women to wear it, when Taliban forces entered the building and began detaining women inside. She described being beaten, forced into a vehicle, and later held at a police station along with other detainees, some of whom were reportedly pregnant.
According to her testimony, the women were released after several hours following the payment of fines by male relatives and the signing of documents requiring them to remain indoors unless covered by the burka. She also reported that one detainee later alleged sexual assault in a video statement, though this claim could not be independently verified within the report.
Residents across Herat say the city now operates under conditions resembling a military zone. Streets and markets are largely empty, and public gatherings have become rare. Fawzia described widespread fear, noting that even schools for younger children are subject to new monitoring measures, including checks on girls’ height, with those above a certain threshold reportedly required to adopt stricter forms of covering.
The personal histories of women involved in the protests reflect long-standing patterns of activism and repression. Ariana, Fawzia’s mother, is described as a journalist and activist who had previously faced threats for her work supporting women’s rights. She has been detained and reportedly subjected to harsh treatment in custody, including physical abuse and coercive practices.
Despite the risks, she and her daughter returned to protest again earlier this week. As repression deepens and surveillance expands, residents of Herat say the space for dissent continues to shrink, while reports of arrests and restrictions extend beyond the city to other parts of Afghanistan. The developments, as documented by El País, point to a widening system of control that continues to shape daily life for Afghan women under Taliban rule.
