The annual world report by the Human Rights Watch expresses serious concerns about the deteriorating human rights situation in Afghanistan, and risks after the NATO withdrawal.

The annual world report contains an in-depth chapter about Afghanistan. It says the future of human rights protections in the country are in grave doubt. Corruption, little rule of law, poor governance, and abusive policies and practices deprive the country's most vulnerable citizens of their rights.

The report includes grave concerns about women rights. It says the government’s failure to respond effectively to violence against women undermines the already-perilous state of women’s rights. A series of high-profile attacks on women highlighted the heightened danger that the future holds for Afghan women. The Law on Elimination of Violence Against Women, adopted in 2009, remains largely unenforced. Women and girls who flee forced marriage or domestic violence are often treated as criminals rather than victims. As of spring 2012, 400 women and girls were in prison and juvenile detention for the “moral crimes” of running away from home or sex outside marriage.

Government efforts to stifle free speech through new legislation and targeting individual journalists were a worrying new development in 2012.

Taliban laws-of-war violations against civilians continued, particularly indiscriminate attacks causing high civilian losses. Following the end of the United States military “surge,” many areas of Afghanistan remained under Taliban control, where Taliban abuses, particularly against women and girls, were endemic.

The Afghan government continues to allow well-known warlords, human rights abusers, corrupt politicians, and businesspeople to operate with impunity, further eroding its public support. Worries about the potential for a civil war along geographic and ethnic lines following the withdrawal of international forces led to reports of re-arming and preparations for conflict by warlords.

The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) has been praised globally as an example of an effective human rights body. However, in December 2011, President Karzai announced the dismissal of three of its nine commissioners. The three positions remained vacant at this writing. The move effectively disabled the commission. Karzai may have sought to undermine the AIHRC by intervening to block the release of one of the commission’s key projects—a 1,000-page report that maps war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan since the communist era. Completed in December 2011, it is needed to provide a foundation for future steps to prosecute those implicated in past abuses.