LGBTQ Afghans Confront Deadly Threats from Taliban Members

LGBTQ Afghans are facing more dangerous threats from Taliban members since Talibans took the power of the country in August 2021. 

A report from the Human Rights Watch (HRW) found through interviews that LGBT people in Afghanistan have faced threats to their safety and lives since the Taliban took full control of the country last year.

According to the research, “Many of those interviewed reported benign attacked, sexually assaulted, or directly threatened by members of the Taliban because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Other reported abuse from family members, neighbors and romantic partners who now support the Taliban or believed they had to take action against LGBT people close to them to ensure their own safety.” 

For many years, LGBTQ people have experienced different types of abuse for their sexual orientation, but since the Taliban took full control of the country, the situation has worsened. 

A gay man told HRW that Taliban members detained him at a checkpoint, beat him, and gang-raped him, telling him, “From now on, anytime we want to be able to find you, we will. And we will do whatever we want with you.” 

Taliban judge Gul Rahim, who has been a judge for several years in central Afghanistan, told the German tabloid Bild that for homosexuals there is only two punishments either stoning or stand behind a wall that will fall down on them.

The Taliban have engaged in widespread rights abuses since retaking control of the country, including revenge killings, systematic discrimination against women and girls, severe restrictions on freedom of expression and the media, and land grabbing. 

The organization Rainbow Railroad helps LGBTQ persons facing persecution find pathways to safety. Heather Barr, associate women’s rights director at HRW, interviewed Kimahli Powell, the executive director of Rainbow Railroad. 

“The Taliban are trying to signal that they’re not going to target women and girls, the LGBTQI+ community, etc. But we already know that won’t be the case.” said Powell. “My fear is a humanitarian crisis where even more LGBTQI+ persons will be targets of violence, especially if there are no tools to provide international development assistance to people at risk, to help us build civil society on the ground, and to relocate people.”

“If we don’t intervene, we could see much targeted violence and potentially the deaths of LGBTQI+ persons, which we really want to avoid,” says Powell. 

The HRW research reveals that most interviewees believed their only path to safety was to relocate to a country with greater protections for the rights of LGBTQ people, but so far very few LGBTQ Afghans escaping Afghanistan are known to have reached a safe country. Organizations assisting LGBTQ Afghans say that hundreds of people have contacted them, seeking international protection and resettlement.