"As Long as No Bones Are Broken": The Taliban’s Legal Roadmap for Wife-Beating

The Penal Code promulgated by the Taliban in January 2026 creates a hierarchy of injuries inflicted upon women within Afghan households. Marzieh Hamidi, an athlete and refugee in France, denounces the inadequacy of the concrete measures taken by the international community.

In Afghanistan, in 2026, a man can strike his wife as long as he does not break her bones. Fracturing an arm may be worth fifteen days in prison, whereas certain acts of violence are treated as minor offenses compared to other social infractions: the mistreatment of a camel is punishable by more than six months of incarceration. This is neither a rumor nor an exaggeration; it is precisely what is stipulated in the new Penal Code promulgated by the Taliban in January 2026, which came into force without public debate or consultation. This text categorizes injuries, regulates brutality, and institutionalizes a new structural legal inequality between men and women.

History will certainly judge the Taliban. But it will also not forget our silence.

By setting thresholds—defining what merits physical punishment and what can be tolerated—the illegitimate Taliban regime transforms millions of women into subjects without recourse, placed under the legal authority of those permitted to strike them. Domestic violence is no longer merely tolerated: it is institutionalized, measured, and framed by the law. None of this is accidental: the Taliban target women systematically. Since their violent seizure of power in 2021, every decision has contributed to their exclusion—from secondary and higher education, the labor market, public space, and access to justice, culminating in the abolition of the institutions that once defended them. The new Penal Code is but one more step in this deliberate project of erasure.

History will certainly judge the Taliban. But it will also not forget our silence. In a country ravaged by a deep humanitarian crisis, where the economy is bled dry and food insecurity is rising, women pay the highest price. Deprived of work, income, and freedom of movement, many have no choice but to beg to survive: women in burqas, totally dehumanized, kneeling before mosques, waiting for a few coins or a piece of bread for themselves or their children. They beg in a context where the law already places them under male guardianship and where any refusal to obey is a risk.

These are not merely marginalized citizens: they are women reduced to survival, stripped of legal protection. Every blow from a stick, every punch, every lashing inflicted on an Afghan woman is a political signal: brutality is permitted as long as it respects the boundaries drawn by a regime that codifies male domination and humiliates women.

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Human rights organizations have been sounding the alarm for years, without sufficient effect. Human Rights Watch calls on the world to listen to the voices of Afghan women and girls and to support the efforts of the International Criminal Court to prosecute those responsible for gender-based persecution. An international alliance of human rights associations has published a joint statement denouncing the escalation of violations—particularly against women and girls—and the absence of an effective international response. Meanwhile, media outlets and platforms like Zan Times, led by Afghan women in exile, report daily on structural violence and human rights abuses, often failing to find a proportionate echo in major political capitals.

These are not merely marginalized citizens: they are women reduced to survival, stripped of legal protection.

The United Nations itself, through experts like the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, denounces systematic violations of the rights of women and girls that go far beyond symbolic restrictions to constitute generalized oppression. Yet, beyond verbal condemnations and alarming reports, concrete pressure remains very weak and ineffective. The Taliban regime continues to be accepted by many states, gradually integrated and recognized within diplomatic circuits without firm conditions regarding human rights. This silence produces a direct and immediate political effect: it normalizes the unacceptable, dehumanization, and exclusion.

The argument of "cultural interference" does not hold. No state can legalize domestic violence in the name of tradition or religious interpretation. No regime can claim sovereignty while denying the fundamental rights of half its population. When a power codifies violence, it makes a political choice that transcends its borders and defies universal principles of dignity and equality. Regional tensions, occasional clashes with Pakistan, and internal conflicts could weaken the regime. But recent history shows that, often, a power driven into a corner stiffens its resolve, and this almost always translates into reinforced control over women and their bodies.

So, how much longer? How much longer will the international community accept that diplomatic recognition, humanitarian aid, or strategic discussions continue without strict conditionality on human rights? How long will it take for the systematic persecution of Afghan women to be treated for what it is: a gender apartheid and organized legal domination? Every blow dealt to an Afghan woman is an intimate act of violence. But it is also a brutal reminder of our collective helplessness. History will certainly judge the Taliban. But it will also not forget our silence—surely more comfortable than the courage of action. How many more laws will it take before the world stops looking away?

➡️ Click here to read the original French story

Source: Le Figaro, Marzieh Hamidi, Baptiste Berard Proust, Inès Davau, March 5, 2026. Translated from the French by DPN, Gemini (AI)

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

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