Taliban governor denies Afghan abuse survivor’s divorce request
Developed over time first seen 2 months ago
A BBC documentary team gained rare access to senior Taliban figures in Afghanistan, capturing an exchange in which an 18-year-old woman, given the pseudonym Tuba, asked provincial governor Abdullah Sarhadi for permission to divorce her husband after months of alleged abuse and beatings. Sarhadi, a former Taliban military commander once held at Guantanamo Bay, urged her to remain married, warning she would lose her "dignity and honour" by divorcing, and later told male officials that women are "mindless" and "deficient in intellect", prompting laughter. The footage offers a rare, direct illustration of how Taliban officials wield authority over Afghan women's lives five years after the group returned to power in 2021, a period in which women have been barred from universities, most workplaces and unaccompanied travel.
At the heart of the dispute is a financial disagreement common under Sharia divorce proceedings: Tuba's husband demanded four times the money originally paid for the marriage as a condition of separation, a sum her family refused to pay. Sarhadi instead proposed she be given her own room and that officials warn her husband against further violence, threatening jail if he continued. Unsatisfied, Tuba's father said the family would pursue the case through the Taliban's court system, though divorce without a husband's consent is notoriously difficult to secure there. The report also traced Sarhadi's own past as a 1990s Taliban commander who surrendered in 2001, was detained for years at Guantanamo Bay, and later rose to become a provincial governor and, more recently, deputy commander of a military corps in Kunduz.
- Taliban governor Sarhadi rejects 18-year-old's divorce request after alleged abuse
- Husband demands fourfold repayment; family refuses and plans a court case
- Rare footage exposes Taliban officials' power over Afghan women's lives
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Afghanistan has been ruled by the Taliban since 2021, when the group returned to power after two decades of war. Under their rule, women and girls face severe restrictions: they are largely barred from work, universities and secondary schools, and family matters such as marriage and divorce are typically decided by male relatives or local Taliban officials rather than through independent courts. Divorce is especially hard for a woman to obtain without her husband's agreement.
The BBC has spent two years gaining rare access to senior Taliban figures for a documentary examining how the movement governs. One of those figures is Abdullah Sarhadi, a former Taliban military commander who fought in the 1990s, was later held by the United States at Guantanamo Bay, and has since held senior posts as a Taliban governor and military official in different provinces. His direct involvement in the case of a young woman seeking a divorce offers a rare, close-up look at how individual Taliban officials exercise power over ordinary Afghans' lives.
The case itself involves a young married woman, her family, and her husband, with a dispute over money paid at the time of the marriage now standing between her and a divorce. It matters because it shows, in concrete detail, how decisions about women's rights and safety in Afghanistan often rest with individual officials rather than formal legal processes, and how difficult it can be for women to leave unsafe marriages under the current system.
Coverage
- Daily Mail — Moment Afghan teen begs Taliban official for divorce from violent husband – before he refuses and brands women ‘deficient in intellect’
- BBC World — Divorce, smartphones and control – BBC sees how Taliban run Afghanistan