Photo by Hasht-e Subh Daily. Used with permission.
This article was written by Behnia for Hasht-e Subh Daily and published on March 27, 2025. An edited version of the article is published on Global Voices under a media partnership agreement.
Following the Taliban’s imposition of restrictions on women’s education, academic pursuits, and employment, many women and girls have turned to various addictive substances in Afghanistan. Hasht-e Subh Daily’s investigative report revealed that girls and women use tobacco products as well as sedative and anti-anxiety medications to escape psychological pressures, mental strain, and depression.
The report includes interviews with 30 individuals — girls denied education, women who experienced Taliban imprisonment, and women living in exile. Findings were collected over the past six months in the provinces of Kabul, Herat, Balkh, Takhar, Jawzjan, Ghazni, and Sar-e Pul.
Several psychologists, doctors, and pharmacy owners reported that over the past year, they have seen a significant number of young women and teenage girls turn to cigarettes, synthetic drugs, pain relief and anti-depressant medication due to severe depression. According to these sources, over the past year, up to 500 young women and girls have sought treatment, using these drugs to alleviate depression, severe headaches, and loneliness and to prevent self-harm.
A psychologist from the Kabul Mental Health Hospital reports that over the past year, more than 100 girls from Kabul and other provinces have visited the facility due to severe depression. In the past month alone, two cases of Tablet K, a methamphetamine type, use were recorded. The psychologist explained in the interview with Hasht-e Subh Daily: “Two female clients, aged 22 and 19, felt that all doors were closed to them and were using Tablet K to reduce psychological and mental pressures.”
The psychologist adds that the mental and emotional state of girls is deteriorating daily, and the primary reasons for tobacco use among young women and teenage girls are the closure of educational opportunities and their inability to achieve their aspirations.
From a hill in Ghazni, a girl gazes at a distant school, closed by the Taliban, a symbol of the lost dreams driving her depression and drug use. Photo by Hasht-e Subh Daily. Used with permission.
A psychologist from the northwestern Balkh province, working at a mental health center in the province, says that, in addition to his work at the center, he collaborates with organizations and personally assists girls and women denied education and employment who suffer from severe depression. Over the past year, he has had more than 130 women clients at his private practice. He notes that some of these clients have turned to cigarettes due to the Taliban’s restrictions on women.
Several women students and university attendees say that the psychological and emotional pressures resulting from being denied education, combined with pressures exerted by their families, have driven them to use cigarettes. They report that without smoking, they experience severe headaches, loneliness, and a sense of suffocation, leading to feelings of hopelessness about continuing their lives.
Nilab (pseudonym), a tenth-grade student, is under strain due to being barred from education and familial pressures, which have led to severe depression. Coupled with excessive worrying about her bleak future, it has caused her intense headaches. She initially turned to sleeping pills and sedatives and now also uses cigarettes.
At first, I used sleeping pills and sedatives, and now I also smoke cigarettes. I use cigarettes less because I’m afraid my family will find out.
She adds that four of her friends are in a similar situation and also smoke secretly from their families.
The report’s findings indicate that tobacco use is most prevalent among young women and teenage girls aged 18 to 25.
In Herat, a girl gazes out a window, yearning for freedom as Taliban restrictions fuel her depression and reliance on sedatives. Photo by Hasht-e Subh Daily. Used with permission.
Pain relief and anti-depressant drugs such as Tramadol, Zeegap, Zoloft, Prolexa, Sanflex, Zing, Arnil, Amitriptyline, Brufen, Paracetamol, and sedative injections are also widely used. Over the past three years, the use of these drugs has led many girls to become addicted, consuming them one to four times a day.
The experience of Taliban imprisonment is a significant factor in women’s addiction to tobacco. The psychological and emotional pressures that women carry into exile after enduring Taliban prisons have led them to use not only sedatives prescribed by psychiatrists but also various tobacco products, such as cigarettes and electronic hookahs.
A woman who imprisoned by the Taliban and now lives in Pakistan says that many women with similar experiences have suffered severe psychological and emotional damage, resorting to cigarettes and electronic hookahs to manage their mental strain. The use of these tobacco products among such women is extensive, and according to her, some consume an entire pack of cigarettes in a single day.
Smoking has become very common among women, to the point that they use a pack of cigarettes in 24 hours. They say it helps them find calm and forget the events they’ve endured. Sometimes, they feel so overwhelmed that they control themselves with excessive smoking and sedative drinks. They can’t tolerate the slightest pressure and immediately turn to various tobacco products.
She believes that, while tobacco use does not cure any pain, women feel compelled to use it to escape the intensity of their psychological pressures.
Drug use among girls and women occurs in two distinct ways. Some, with access to psychologists, consult neurologists or psychiatrists and use prescribed sedatives, anti-stress, anti-anxiety, and sleeping medications as part of treatment.
Although prolonged use of these drugs is not recommended by psychiatrists, many girls, drawn by their immediate effects, stop seeing their doctors and start obtaining drugs from pharmacies on their own. Most women and girls, particularly in Kabul and in exile, continue using these drugs even after their prescribed treatment ends.
However, the majority of girls and women say they use painkillers, sedatives, and antidepressants without consulting a psychologist or psychiatrist. Paracetamol and ibuprofen, which are inexpensive and easily available at pharmacies, are widely used by girls.
This is especially common in provinces with limited access to psychiatrists and pharmacies. Mahdia from the southeastern Ghazni province, for instance, obtains these drugs after a three-hour walk to a local pharmacy, and takes them for severe headaches — she has never seen a psychiatrist. Fatima from the northeastern Takhar province also gets painkillers and antidepressants free of charge from her province’s local hospital.
Razia, a Kabul resident, says she pays AFN 1,500 (USD 21) for one of her drugs, equivalent to the cost of a sack of flour for her family. If she were to buy all her medications, it would cost AFN 4,000 (USD 56) per month. Maryam, a student from Kabul, adds that she spends between AFN 400 and 800 (USD 6–12) monthly on her drugs — a steep price she must bear despite her dire economic situation.
The rising drug and medication addiction among women and girls in Afghanistan is one of the many inadvertent destructive effects of the Taliban’s restrictive policies. With more time and additional research, other negative social and economic implications of the mistreatment of women in Afghanistan will be revealed.