Under Taliban rule, the lives of LGBTQ+ people have deteriorated radically. Since the Taliban took power, there have been numerous reports of gang rape, violence, and death threats. Human Rights Watch (HRW) and OutRight Action International documented nearly 60 incidents of targeted violence against LGBTQ+ people since August 20, 21 in the 43-page report titled ‘Even If You Go to the Skies, We’ll Find You: LGBT People in Afghanistan After the Taliban Takeover’. Many of the people interviewed described how their lives were destroyed under Taliban rule.
Taliban officials and their supporters have committed crimes against LGBT people with impunity due to systematic abuses of power and virulent anti-LGBT sentiment. The Taliban is accused of threatening or attacking many people because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Some victims reported abuse from family members, neighbors, and partners who now support the Taliban or felt compelled to discriminate against homosexuals to protect themselves. Others fled their homes after attacks by Taliban members and supporters.
‘We spoke with LGBT Afghans who have survived gang rape, mob attacks, or have been hunted by their own family members who joined the Taliban. They have no hope that state institutions will protect them,’ said J. Lester Feder, senior fellow for emergency research at OutRight Action International. The chances of LGBT persons fleeing Afghanistan are slim; most of Afghanistan’s neighbors also criminalize same-sex relationships. For LGBT Afghans, returning to Taliban rule is ‘devastating – and terrifying’.
Before the Taliban took control of the country in August 2021, Afghanistan was a dangerous place for LGBT people. Prior to the Taliban’s return to power, LGBT people reported a number of abuses due to their sexual orientation or gender identity. In 2018, the country’s president, Ashraf Ghani, passed a law criminalizing same-sex sexual relations, and its previous penal code contained vague language widely interpreted to criminalize same-sex relationships.
However, as soon as the Taliban regained control, the situation dramatically deteriorated. Taliban leaders have pledged to take a hard line against LGBT rights, reaffirming the previous government’s criminalisation of same-sex relationships. The German tabloid Bild reported that a Taliban judge told them: ‘For homosexuals, there are only two punishments available: stoning or standing behind a wall that will collapse on him.’ According to Taliban Ministry of Vice and Virtue manuals from 2020, religious leaders should prohibit same-sex relationships, and ‘strong allegations’ should be reported to the district manager for investigation and punishment.
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