Biden’s Afghanistan: Taliban Holds Mass Flogging Event for Crimes of ‘Fleeing from Home,’ ‘Disrespect’

The Taliban, the uncontested government of Afghanistan since 2021, used a stadium to stage a mass punishment event for 63 people on Tuesday, administering public floggings for crimes ranging from “fleeing from home” to “adultery.”

Afghan outlets reported on the event, the latest in a series of increasingly common stadium punishment displays, and quoted locals who said they approved of public punishments under the Islamist rule of the Taliban terrorist organization. The United Nations issued a condemnation of the floggings, describing its leadership as “deeply disturbed by the widespread, continued use of corporal punishment in Afghanistan”:

The Taliban governed Afghanistan for much of the 1990s, imposing a totalitarian dictatorship anchored by an extremist interpretation of the sharia, or the Islamic law, that deprived Afghans of most civil liberties and essentially confirmed women to house arrest unless dressed in a burqa and accompanied by a male “guardian.”

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The Taliban became the de facto, but uncontested, government of the country again on August 15, 2021, after American President Joe Biden announced a decision to extend the 20-year Afghan War, breaking a deal brokered with the Taliban by his predecessor, former President Donald Trump. The Taliban responded to the rupture of the agreement by swarming the country and toppling the U.S.-backed government in Kabul amid a chaotic and poorly managed U.S. withdrawal from the country.

President Joe Biden, first lady Jill Biden and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin watch as a Marine Corps carry team moves a transfer case containing the remains of Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Dylan Merola, 20, of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), a U.S. government watchdog office, has since confirmed that Biden left at least $7.2 billion worth of military equipment to the Taliban and has given the Taliban nearly $11 million in American taxpayers’ dollars between August 2021 and May 2024.

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Following its return to power, Taliban leaders promised they would create a more “inclusive” government than the one they had presided over before 2001 and vowed to respect the rights of women more than they had in the past. Three years later, however, the Taliban has largely reverted to its old ways, banning girls from schools, mandating the use of face coverings, and persecuting even foreign women working for the United Nations.

This has not stopped the international community from integrating the Taliban into its fabric, including the U.N., which continues to attempt to maintain humanitarian efforts in Afghanistan.

The Afghan outlet Tolo News reported on Wednesday that the mass flogging occurred in Sar-e-Pul province. The victims were 48 men and 15 women, who were sentenced to between 15 and 39 lashes each. In addition to the physical abuse, some victims reportedly received prison sentences lasting between six months and five years. According to Voice of America, the group was the largest known since 2021 to receive public lashings in a Taliban event.

“The Taliban have publicly flogged hundreds of men and women in sports stadiums across the country since retaking control of Afghanistan in August 2021. At least five Afghans convicted of murder have also been executed publicly by gunfire,” Voice of America reported.

“According to local officials, these individuals were arrested by security forces for committing various crimes and have now been punished,” Tolo News reported. “The crimes committed by these individuals include fleeing from home, armed robbery, adultery, sodomy, and disrespect.”

The Associated Press reported that the Taliban’s top court confirmed the flogging and claimed that each victim was given due process. It also confirmed the event took place in a sports stadium and featured victims including “a man and a woman convicted of adultery and trying to run away from home.”

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), which has attempted to maintain relations with the Taliban, condemned the event on Wednesday, as did the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR).

“We are deeply disturbed by the widespread, continued use of corporal punishment in Afghanistan,” U.N. Human Rights spokesperson Jeremy Laurence said in a statement.

“Corporal punishment is a clear violation of international human rights law. Afghanistan is party to both the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,” the statement continued. “Under international law, all people have the right to be treated with respect for their inherent human dignity and equality.”

“We again urge the de facto authorities to immediately cease all forms of corporal punishment,” the statement went on to say. “Furthermore, we call on the de facto authorities [the Taliban] to ensure full respect for due process and fair trial rights, in particular access to legal representation, for anyone facing criminal charges.”

Tolo News – which, it should be noted, the Taliban raided and directly threatened in 2021 – reported that locals appeared to approve of the floggings:

“Young people will learn a lesson from the crimes they committed, and this will result in a decrease in crime and criminal activities,” Tolo News quoted a local, identified as Jamshid, as saying.

Reportedly, another local claimed residents were “happy and satisfied” with the stadium floggings.

The use of a stadium to create a spectacle of punishing criminals is not unprecedented during the second Taliban reign in Afghanistan. In February, the Taliban confirmed the execution of a criminal in Jawzjan province. Reports indicate that the Taliban convicted a man of murder and allowed the brother of the alleged victim to kill the convicted man before the eyes of a stadium full of spectators.

“The man was shot five times with a rifle by the victim’s brother, according to an anonymous witness,” the U.S.-based Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported at the time.

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