Former CIA officer publishes photos of Taliban leaders’ wives

Sara Adams, a former officer with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), has launched a campaign called “Housewives of the Taliban” in response to the Taliban’s decision to remove women’s photographs from identification documents.

Adams shared images of several Taliban officials’ wives—taken from their diplomatic passports—on the social media platform X, writing: “If Afghan women are not allowed to have their photographs on identity documents, then the wives of Taliban officials should not enjoy that privilege either.”

She described the Taliban’s decision as a clear example of discrimination against women and announced that she would continue publishing these images until the policy is overturned.

Alongside the photos, Adams emphasized: “These women are not neutral bystanders; they are the wives of terrorists who enforce and benefit from this regime. While they travel freely abroad with their husbands, Afghan women remain imprisoned in their own homes.”

The Housewives of the Taliban campaign comes after the Taliban’s Dar al-Ifta recently issued a decree stating that including photographs in women’s identity documents is optional.

Women’s rights activists argue that this measure is part of the Taliban’s ongoing effort to gradually erase women from Afghanistan’s public life.