Public Executions and Difficult Births: What Is Happening in Afghanistan Under the Taliban

The health care situation is catastrophic.

Media reports say the Taliban hanged the bodies of four alleged criminals who were killed in a shootout and who were supposedly engaged in kidnapping people. This was done as a warning to others in several central squares of the city of Herat in Afghanistan. Here is what is happening in the country in recent days. 

Public execution

The public hanging of the bodies followed a statement by one of the Taliban leaders about the return of strict punishments, such as executions or amputations, “as a necessity for security.” 

The four hanged men were earlier killed in a shootout with the Taliban after they kidnapped a local businessman and his son. AP News reported that one body was hung from a crane in the center of the city. 

The deputy governor of Herat said Taliban fighters tracked down the kidnappers and shot them. BBC has no confirmation of how exactly the four men died. 

Human rights group Amnesty International earlier accused the Taliban of executing nine members of the Hazara minority. 

In the 1990s, the Taliban executed criminals under their laws in the stadium in Kabul and in front of the Eid Gah Mosque. At that time, there was a Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, a kind of “religious police” of the group. 

How Women Give Birth in Afghanistan

For several weeks, the maternity ward of a small hospital in Nangarhar Province has been completely stripped. Women have been left without painkillers, medicine and food. The hospital is extremely hot (the air temperature reaches 43 degrees Celsius), there is no electricity, and the fuel for the generators has run out. 

Midwives work tirelessly in the dark and deliver babies by the light of mobile phones. This has become the reality after the Taliban came to power. According to the WHO, Afghanistan has one of the worst maternal mortality rates in the world: 638 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. 

Some estimates suggest that without support for women and girls, by 2025 the number of maternal deaths could rise to 51,000, unplanned pregnancies to 4.8 million, and twice as many people will be unable to access family planning clinics. 

“Primary health care facilities are being destroyed across Afghanistan. Unfortunately, maternal and child mortality rates are rising,” said Wahid Majroh, Minister of Public Health. The Taliban’s rise to power led to the freezing of foreign aid, which significantly funds Afghanistan’s health care system. 

Even more concerning are reports that in hospitals, only female doctors can now treat women. One midwife said the Taliban beat a male doctor for treating a woman. 

According to WHO calculations, there are 4.6 doctors, nurses and midwives per 10,000 Afghans, which is almost five times lower than what is considered the “critical shortage threshold.” Medical staff have not been paid for at least three months. The health care situation is catastrophic.