Afghan Dragons Hacker Group Cyberattack on Taliban (IEA)’s Government Websites

TRAC Terrorism Weekly Report indicates that Afghanistan has entered the cyber warfare era with the first major attack by the Afghan Dragons Hacker Group on Taliban website, even as the Islamic Emirate continues to deny any security incident claiming invincibility.

On 30 May 2025, the hacker collective known as Afghan Dragons claimed responsibility for a large-scale cyberattack that crippled the online services of at least 20 Taliban (Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan)-led ministries and several affiliated agencies. In a statement shared with a local media outlet, the group declared the attack as a protest against the Taliban’s repressive policies toward women and girls, particularly its systematic exclusion of females from education.

The timing and messaging of the attack directly correlate with mounting domestic and international outrage over the Taliban's gender policies. Following the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021, the regime swiftly dismantled institutional frameworks supporting women’s rights, most notably abolishing the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and reinstating the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, notorious for enforcing ultraconservative gender restrictions.

A significant inflexion point came on 2 December 2024, when Taliban leader Mullah Hibatullah issued a decree barring women from attending higher education and semi-medical training institutions. This policy, implemented by the Taliban’s Ministry of Public Health, ended the last remaining avenues for Afghan women and girls to participate in health-related studies, including midwifery, pharmacy, and physiotherapy fields in which women played essential roles, particularly in treating female patients.

The Afghan Dragons cyberattack is part of a growing digital resistance movement within Afghanistan and beyond. This is not the first time Taliban-controlled digital infrastructure has come under fire. In February 2025, a separate hacker entity, known as TalibanLeaks, infiltrated Taliban networks, leaking thousands of internal emails and sensitive documents. These cyber offensives reveal a strategic evolution in opposition to the Taliban, where physical protest is no longer feasible due to repression, and digital sabotage becomes a powerful form of dissent.

The cyber attack exposes Taliban vulnerability to attacks even as the government in Afghanistan is attempting to expand digital governance.

[Based on TRAC Terrorism Report]