Afghanistan today stands as the epicenter of the most severe women’s rights crisis in the world—a tragic consequence of the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021. Since then, a systematic dismantling of freedoms for women and girls has unfolded, with Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the United Nations raising alarm over the extent and depth of the repression. What we are witnessing is not simply a rollback of rights—it is the institutionalization of gender apartheid.

Afghanistan is now the only country on Earth where girls are outright banned from schooling beyond the sixth grade. This exclusion is not an isolated policy—it is the cornerstone of a broader campaign to erase women from public life. Denying education to half the population not only violates their fundamental human rights but also sabotages the country’s long-term development. The ban guarantees that Afghanistan will face an acute shortage of female professionals, particularly in essential sectors such as health care and education.

But education is only one facet of the Taliban’s war on women. The group has imposed sweeping restrictions on female mobility, effectively confining women to their homes unless accompanied by a male guardian. Employment opportunities for women have........

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