HERAT — The Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice has intensified its domestic campaign against civilian independence in western Afghanistan, detaining at least five women in the city of Herat over a 48-hour period.
According to verified reports from local eye-witnesses and independent regional monitors, the arbitrary detentions occurred across multiple commercial districts, including the 46-Meter Market and the 9th security district. Sources on the ground revealed that the women were fully clothed in accordance with local customs, wearing coats (mantos), long robes (chador namaz), and surgical face masks. However, morality enforcers ignored their compliance, detaining them under the arbitrary accusation of practicing “improper hijab”.
Local families attempting to locate and secure the release of their daughters have encountered predatory structural demands. Eyewitnesses allege that Taliban authorities are demanding up to 13,000 Afghanis in administrative fines from the families. Furthermore, the regime requires a male guardian (mahram) to sign a binding legal document guaranteeing that the detained woman will be barred from leaving the household in the future without explicit oversight.
The latest wave of detentions comes on the heels of statements made by the Taliban’s Vice and Virtue Minister, Mohammad Khalid Hanafi, who openly defended the regional dress-code crackdowns during a press conference in Herat. While Hanafi dismissed international outcries as “negative propaganda” and insisted that women’s “dignity” is protected, regional women’s rights advocates argue the reality is far more severe.
The continuous deployment of morality patrols has forced a massive economic and social contraction in Herat, with local shopkeepers reporting a steep drop in female customers who now choose to stay locked inside out of profound fear. Human rights watchdogs warn that these continuous, localized sweeps are part of a broader structural campaign to induce psychological terror and completely erase women from the public landscape.
