The lives of women and girls in Afghanistan are being “devastated” by the Taliban’s crackdown on their human rights since they took control of the country in August 2021, Amnesty International said in a new report published Wednesday. The report, Death in Slow Motion: Women and Girls Under Taliban Rule, says that the Taliban have violated women’s and girls’ rights to education, work, and free movement; decimated the system of protection and support for those fleeing domestic violence; detained women and girls for minor violations of discriminatory rules; and contributed to a surge in the rates of child, early and forced marriage in Afghanistan. The comprehensive investigation was conducted from September 2021 to June 2022 and includes interviews with 90 Afghan women and 11 girls between the ages of 14 and 74, living throughout Afghanistan. The Taliban took over the country following the withdrawal of US and other foreign troops. At first, the Taliban said it would allow women to continue to work and girls to go to school, unlike during their last time in power from 1996 to 2001. But in March, the Taliban announced the closure of girls’ high schools, hours after they reopened for the first time in more than half a year, though elementary schools through sixth grade were said to remain open. Allowing girls and women back into schools and colleges has been a red line for the international community since the Taliban took over.