Taliban authorities announced on Tuesday that they have disbanded Afghanistan's independent human rights commission since it was "not considered necessary," despite a recent spike in female murder and suicide cases.
Since the hardline group seized power last August they have closed several bodies that protected the freedoms of Afghans, including the electoral commission and the Ministry for Women's Affairs.
"We have some other organizations to carry out activities related to human rights, organizations that are linked to the judiciary," deputy Taliban government spokesperson Inamullah Samangani told Agence France-Presse (AFP), without elaborating.
The work of the rights commission, which included documenting civilian casualties of Afghanistan's two-decade war, was halted when the Taliban ousted the United States-backed government last year and the body's top officials fled the country.
The National Security Council and a reconciliation council that promoted peace were also shut down at the weekend as the government announced its first annual budget.
"These departments are not considered necessary, so they have been dissolved. But in the future if they are needed then they can resume their operations," Samangani said.
The Taliban are facing a financial deficit of about $500 million in a country almost entirely dependent on foreign aid.
Heather Barr, associate women's rights director at Human Rights Watch, said it was shocking to see Afghanistan backslide with the closures.
"It mattered enormously to have somewhere to go, to ask for help and to demand justice," she tweeted.
The Taliban previously promised a softer rule than their first regime from 1996 to 2001, but have steadily eroded the freedoms of many Afghans, particularly women, who face restrictions in education, work and dress.
Spike in suicides, honor killings
Afghanistan also witnessed a surge in honor killings of women and female suicides over the past few days.
Reports of violence against women were frequent in the past but despite the Taliban's stifling of the media since retaking power last year, there has been a recent rise.
In the past three days, local officials have confirmed that four women have been killed and two have committed suicide.
The incidents took place in Faryab, Ghazni, Samangan and Bamyan provinces.
Shamsullah Mohammadi, the Faryab provincial information and culture head, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) that a man shot dead his sister-in-law for allegedly having "illicit relations" and then fled.
A young woman committed suicide in the same province for unknown reasons, he added.
In Ghazni province, a man shot a mother dead and wounded the victim’s daughter after hearing the girl was engaged to someone else.
In a separate incident in Ghazni, a young woman was killed by her brother and cousin after being accused of having sexual relations outside marriage. Her boyfriend was also killed.
Provincial police spokesperson Sayed Ishaq Saleh confirmed both murders, adding that the culprits involved in the second case have been detained.
Afghan media also reported that a woman had died in hospital after her husband smashed her head with a stone in Samangan province.
Another young woman committed suicide in the Waras district of Bamyan.