The Taliban’s Latest Assault on Women: Inside the Herat Dress Code Crackdown

A large-scale crackdown by Taliban morality police in the western city of Herat, involving mass arrests of women for alleged dress code violations, has drawn sharp condemnation from the United Nations, spotlighting what human rights groups call an accelerating campaign to erase Afghan women from public life.

The operation on June 6, 2026, carried out by the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (MPVPV), saw officers establish checkpoints on major thoroughfares to pull women from taxis and public vehicles. Residents reported that more than 20 women were detained in a single day . The arrests specifically targeted women who were not wearing a burqa or a long chador, the full-body covering mandated by the Taliban for women in public spaces .

The arrests were not a one-off event but an intensification of months of escalating pressure in Herat. As early as January 2026, the MPVPV had set up similar road checkpoints, forcing women out of vehicles for interrogation if they were not in a burqa or a long prayer chador . The morality police also declared the traditional Herati manto, a long coat worn for generations by local women, unacceptable . The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) had already documented, in its report covering January to March 2026, that MPVPV inspectors in Herat were systematically ordering women off public transport and directing them to wear chadors .

UNAMA’s Response and Documented Pattern of Abuse

On June 8, 2026, UNAMA issued a public statement expressing its concern over the "multiple arrests and detentions of women in Herat for alleged non-compliance with dress requirements," stating the incidents raised "serious human rights concerns" . The mission invoked the rights to freedom of movement and equality before the law in its condemnation .

This condemnation is set against a backdrop of systematic documentation by the UN. UNAMA's broader quarterly report for the first three months of 2026 revealed the vast scale of the morality police's operations, finding they had arbitrarily detained at least 336 individuals nationwide and mistreated women and men in 59 documented cases during that period alone . The arrests frequently targeted perceived infractions of clothing style, but also extended to the trimming of beards and listening to music .

A Strategy of Erasure: The Broader Architecture of Control

The Herat crackdown is the latest move in a comprehensive and accelerating system of gender-based oppression that has intensified sharply since the Taliban seized power in 2021. Experts and UN officials have described the cumulative effect of these policies as "gender apartheid" . Key milestones in this escalation include:

• May 2022 Foundational Decree: The Taliban ordered all women to cover themselves completely in public, showing only their eyes, and recommended the full burqa. Crucially, the decree stated women should leave their homes only for "necessity" and warned that male relatives would be punished for violations .
• August 2024 "Morality Law": The regime codified its repressive policies into a single law. The Law on the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice formalized strict dress codes, banned women's voices in public, prohibited images of living beings in media, and mandated male guardians for travel . The UN’s human rights office said the law "completely erases" women's presence in public and "effectively attempts to render them into faceless, voiceless shadows" .
• July 2025 Kabul Arrests: In a clear precursor to Herat, MPVPV agents arrested dozens of women and girls in Kabul’s Dasht-e-Barchi district, pulling them from shopping malls and accusing them of "improper hijab" . UNAMA condemned this as "pushing women into even greater isolation" .

Beyond dress codes, the systematic dismantling of women’s rights has targeted education, employment, and the justice system. More than 14 edicts have barred women from secondary schools and universities, banned them from working for NGOs and the UN, and restricted their freedom of movement by requiring a male guardian for any travel beyond approximately 70 kilometers .

Targeting Family and Legal Autonomy

The Taliban's strategy also encompasses the legal erasure of women’s autonomy within the family. Decrees have weakened protections in marriage and divorce, making it nearly impossible for women to initiate divorce and allowing a girl’s silence upon puberty to be interpreted as consent to marriage, effectively institutionalizing child marriage . In March 2026, the UN Security Council in resolution S/2026/170 expressed "serious concern about the increasing and widespread erosion of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, in particular for women and girls," and condemned legal measures institutionalizing gender discrimination .

The International Response and Path Forward

Afghanistan remains a top agenda item for the UN Security Council, which in March 2026 extended UNAMA's mandate until June 17, 2026, with members urging the Taliban to reverse the ban on Afghan women working for the UN . During quarterly meetings, the UN’s Deputy Head of Mission has stated bluntly that the Taliban’s restrictions on women are directly "hindering Afghanistan's progress" and deepening its international isolation . The Security Council has made clear that peace and prosperity are "unattainable" until the Taliban reverses the bans on women's education, employment, and participation in public life .

The systematic nature of these restrictions, now enforced through public arrests designed to instill terror in everyday activities like riding in a taxi, shows no sign of abating. As UNAMA and human rights organizations continue to document each wave of repression, the international community faces the ongoing challenge of translating condemnation into action for the women and girls of Afghanistan.