Taliban have issued a new family law regulation that recognizes marriages involving minors as legally valid in certain circumstances, while allowing children to seek annulment after reaching puberty only through a court order.
The regulation also grants religious courts broad authority over annulments and marital disputes.
The 31-article regulation, titled “Principles of Separation Between Spouses,” was published in the Taliban’s official gazette after being approved by their leader Hibatullah Akhundzada.
The document outlines rules governing the dissolution of marriages under a wide range of religious and legal conditions, including child marriage, missing husbands, apostasy, forced separation, breastfeeding relations and accusations of adultery.
One of the most closely scrutinized sections concerns “khiyar al-bulugh,” or the “option upon puberty,” a concept in Islamic jurisprudence that allows a child married at a young age to seek annulment after reaching puberty.
Article 5 states that if relatives other than a child’s father or grandfather arrange the marriage of a minor — whether a boy or girl — the marriage contract is considered legally valid if the spouse is deemed socially compatible and the dowry appropriate. The child may later seek annulment after reaching puberty, but only through a court order.
Another provision says marriages involving a “non-compatible” spouse or an excessively unfair dowry would not be considered valid.
The regulation also grants fathers and grandfathers broad authority over child marriages, though it says marriages may be invalidated if guardians are considered abusive, mentally unfit or morally corrupt.
Several provisions reinforce conservative guardianship rules governing women.
Article 7 states that the silence of a virgin girl after reaching puberty may be interpreted as consent to marriage, while silence by a boy or a previously married woman does not automatically constitute consent.
The regulation further empowers Taliban judges to intervene in marital disputes under a broad set of religious categories, including apostasy, “turning away from Islam,” prolonged absence of a husband, accusations of adultery, and “zihar,” a classical Islamic concept in which a husband compares his wife to a female relative whom marriage would be forbidden.
Under the section on “zihar,” judges are authorized to compel husbands to fulfill religious penalties or grant divorce. The document says judges may use imprisonment and physical punishment to enforce compliance.
Other sections address marriages involving non-Muslims. The regulation states that if a non-Muslim husband converts to Islam while his wife remains among the “People of the Book,” the marriage may continue. But if a Muslim woman converts and her husband refuses to accept Islam after being invited to do so, a judge may order separation.
The document also addresses marriages involving “polytheists” or “fire worshippers,” stating that if one spouse converts to Islam and the other refuses, courts may order separation.
Another section deals with marriages affected by breastfeeding relations — a concept in Islamic law under which children breastfed by the same woman are considered religious siblings and prohibited from marrying each other. The regulation states that if such a relationship is established between spouses, judges may order separation.
The rules also establish procedures for women whose husbands are missing for prolonged periods, allowing courts to intervene under specified conditions.
The publication of the regulation comes as the Taliban continue to impose sweeping restrictions on women and girls since returning to power in August 2021.
Girls have been barred from education beyond sixth grade, women have been banned from universities, and severe restrictions have been imposed on women’s employment, movement and public participation. The UN has repeatedly condemned the restrictions, describing them as systematic violations of fundamental rights.
Human rights advocates have also expressed concern that the Taliban are increasingly codifying hard-line interpretations of Islamic jurisprudence into state regulations, further institutionalizing gender-based restrictions through the legal system.
