The Taliban has officially legalized practices such as slavery and domestic violence through a new criminal code that was recently signed by its leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada. This legislation, which came into effect immediately, has raised significant concerns among human rights organizations, including the Afghan group Rawadari, which highlights the oppressive nature of the laws.

According to the Rawadari human rights organization, the new laws create a social hierarchy by categorizing the Afghan population into four distinct classes: 'intellectuals', 'elite', 'middle class', and 'lower class'. The type and severity of criminal sentences are now dictated by these classifications, which means that individuals in higher classes will receive considerably lighter sentences for the same offenses compared to those in lower classes. This legal stratification not only enforces discriminatory views of social status but also directly contravenes the principle of equality before the law, as criticized by human rights groups.

This new legal framework raises alarms for the future of human rights in Afghanistan, especially for vulnerable groups such as women, who are likely to be disproportionately affected by the legalization of domestic violence. The international community and human rights advocates are closely monitoring the implications of these changes, as they threaten the fragile progress made in human rights over the past two decades in Afghanistan, casting a dark shadow over the lives of everyday citizens in the country.