A video showing the forced confession of a young girl detained by the Taliban for working while dressed as a boy has sparked widespread outrage, drawing renewed attention to the worsening plight of Afghan women and girls.
In the video, recorded while she was in Taliban custody, the girl says she disguised herself as a boy out of necessity so she could work and support her family. She explains that she is responsible for providing for her sisters and had no alternative source of income.
According to her account, she worked at a café for nearly three years, earning 7,000 afghanis per month initially. Her salary was later increased to 10,000 afghanis, which she says she earned for the past eight months to a year before her detention.
During the footage, a man’s voice—believed to belong to a Taliban official—questions her about her gender, family background, place of residence, workplace, employer, and salary.
“Are you a boy or a girl?” the man asks.
The girl confirms she is female and says she wore boys’ clothing solely to survive economically and protect her family.
The exact date and location of the recording remain unclear. Taliban authorities have provided no explanation for her detention and have not disclosed her current condition or whereabouts, raising serious concerns over her safety and treatment.
Since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban have imposed sweeping restrictions on women’s right to work. Female government employees were dismissed en masse, except in limited sectors such as healthcare. Employment opportunities for women in private businesses, international organizations, and civil society have also been sharply curtailed.
The closure of women-run beauty salons and recurring street-level detentions by Taliban morality enforcers have stripped hundreds of thousands of Afghan families of their primary sources of income.
Observers say the case highlights how survival itself has been criminalized for Afghan women under Taliban rule.
