Afghan Taliban Created World’s Most Serious Women’s Rights Crisis, HRW Says

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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
August 12, 2024

The Taliban has created “the world’s most serious women’s rights crisis” since returning to power in Afghanistan in August 2021, Human Rights Watch (HRW) says.

Under the Taliban rule, Afghanistan has become the only country where girls are banned from going to school beyond the sixth grade, HRW said in a press release on August 11.

The Taliban has also “undermined women’s right to freedom of movement, banned them from many forms of employment, dismantled protections for women and girls experiencing gender-based violence, created barriers to them accessing health care, and barred them from playing sports, and even visiting parks.”

The pressures on Afghan women come as their country is also experiencing a major humanitarian crisis, with aid severely underfunded and thousands of Afghan refugees forced back into Afghanistan from Pakistan.

Women and girls are among the most seriously affected by this humanitarian crisis, HRW said.

The situation has been described by the United Nations special rapporteur on Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, as “an institutionalized system of discrimination, segregation, disrespect for human dignity, and exclusion of women and girls,” HRW said.

“Under the Taliban’s abusive rule, Afghan women and girls are living their worst nightmares,” HRW’s Fereshta Abbasi said.

Abbasi urged all governments to “support efforts to hold the Taliban leadership and all those responsible for serious crimes in Afghanistan to account.”

Abbasi said countries engaging with the Taliban-led government in Kabul should consistently remind it that its “abuses against women and girls and all Afghans violate Afghanistan’s obligations under international law.”

More than half of Afghanistan’s population — 23 million people — face food insecurity, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Restrictions that the Taliban authorities have imposed on women and girls have impeded access to health care, jeopardizing their right to health, HRW noted.

The Taliban’s bans on girls’ education inevitably leads to future shortages of female health workers, HRW said.

The rights group called on donor countries to find ways to mitigate the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan without reinforcing the Taliban’s repressive policies against women and girls.

Copyright (c) 2024. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

Related

US commits to freeing Americans held by Taliban in Afghanistan

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Ayaz Gul
VOA News
August 11, 2024

Islamabad — The United States has promised to make every effort to secure the release of three Americans whom it says are being held “unjustly” by Taliban authorities in Afghanistan.

Ryan Corbett, Mahmood Habibi, and George Glezmann were taken captive in separate incidents in Kabul in 2022, roughly a year after the Taliban stormed back to power in the Afghan capital.

“My thoughts and prayers are with Ryan Corbett, Mahmood Habibi, and their families today,” Thomas West, the U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan, said on X, formerly Twitter, marking the two-year anniversary of the capture of the two men.

“We will and we must continue every effort to bring them and George Glezmann home to their families,” he wrote Sunday.

Roger Carstens, the U.S. special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, in separate remarks posted on X, said that the three “have been held for far too long and their families have endured unimaginable pain.”

Corbett is a humanitarian worker who had lived with his family in Afghanistan for years. He was evacuated during the August 2021 Taliban takeover following the withdrawal of U.S.-led Western troops.

Corbett returned to Afghanistan in 2022 and was detained by the Taliban but has not been charged with any crimes, according to his family.

Glezmann was visiting Kabul as a tourist lawfully traveling in Afghanistan when he was seized by the Taliban’s intelligence services on December 5, 2022, “without just cause or formal charge,” according to the Foley Foundation, working to secure freedom for Americans held unjustly captive abroad.

Separately on Saturday, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, or FBI, released a statement seeking information into the disappearance of Habibi, saying he was taken from his vehicle near his home in the Afghan capital, along with his driver, on August 10, 2022.

The FBI stated that the Afghan-American businessman worked as a contractor for Asia Consultancy Group, a Kabul-based telecommunications company. “It is believed that Mr. Habibi was taken by Taliban military or security forces and has not been heard from since his disappearance,” the agency noted.

Habibi was detained by the Taliban reportedly on suspicion that his company was involved in a July 31 U.S. drone strike in Kabul that killed Ayman al-Zawahiri, the fugitive al-Qaida network chief. The FBI said that de facto Afghan authorities had also briefly detained 29 other employees of the Asia Consultancy Group.

The Taliban have officially not responded to the latest U.S. calls for releasing the three Americans.

While de facto Afghan authorities have publicly disclosed that Corbett and Glezmann are among “several foreign nationals” imprisoned in Afghanistan for allegedly violating local immigration and other laws, they refuse to acknowledge holding Habibi.

On Sunday, an Afghan television station quoted Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s chief spokesperson, claiming that they have imprisoned only two American citizens and are not holding Habibi.

He reiterated that Kabul would release the prisoners in exchange for Afghans in U.S. custody, the Ariana News network reported on its website.

“We don’t have anyone named Habibi in our prisons. But the investigation is ongoing to find out what happened in this regard,” Mujahid stated.

The Taliban announced last month for the first time that they had discussed a possible prisoner exchange in direct talks with U.S. officials on the sidelines of an international conference in Doha, Qatar, hosted by the United Nations.

“During our meetings, we talked about the two American citizens who are in prison in Afghanistan,” Mujahid told reporters after the meeting.

“But they must accept Afghanistan’s conditions. We also have prisoners in America, prisoners in Guantanamo. We should free our prisoners in exchange for them,” he said without elaborating.

Last week, the U.S. State Department spokesperson told reporters in Washington that U.S. officials have raised the detainees’ fate in every meeting with the Taliban.

Matthew Miller stated that Corbett and Glezmann “are wrongfully detained,” according to the U.S. legal determination. “That’s not a determination we have yet made with respect to Mahmood Habibi, which is not to say we’re not working to try and secure his release,” he explained.

“Oftentimes, we can’t make a wrongful detention determination because we don’t have access to certain types of information or because the situation is unclear. There can be other factors as well,” Miller explained.

Blast In Kabul’s Hazara Area Kills At Least 1, Injures 11

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By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
August 11, 2024

An explosion in the Afghan capital, Kabul, killed one person and injured 11 others, Taliban police spokesman Khalid Zadran told RFE/RL on August 11, an attack apparently targeting the country’s minority Hazara community.

Zadran said the explosion was caused by a bomb planted in a minibus in Kabul’s Dasht-e Barchi area, where many Shi’ite Hazara reside.

No group immediately claimed responsibility, but the Sunni-led Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K) branch has carried out numerous attacks since the Taliban seized power in August 2021, often targeting Taliban officials, foreign nationals, the Hazara community, and others it considers incompatible with its extreme interpretation of Islam.

A female resident told RFE/RL that the Taliban authorities have failed to protect residents of the Dasht-e Barchi area.

“Explosions in Dasht-e Barchi occur regularly without anyone taking responsibility for maintaining security,” she said.

“The Taliban say they have ensured security, but that’s only words. They don’t care who’s killed or what attacks occur. If they’re genuinely ensuring security, why do explosions keep happening?”

Shi’ite Muslims, the country’s largest religious minority, have complained that the Sunni Taliban has not done enough to protect them from terror attacks and have accused the Taliban itself of abuses, including “killing, torture, and forced displacement.” Most Shi’a in Afghanistan are members of the historically persecuted Hazara ethnic minority.

A report this year by the U.S. State Department cited several examples of terror attacks against the Hazara community and stated that religious freedoms have continued to deteriorate under harsh Taliban rule in Afghanistan.

“Consistent with trends observed in past years, many suicide bombings and other attacks on civilians targeted Shi’a Muslims, particularly ethnic Hazara,” by the IS-K terrorist group, it said.

The report identified IS-K as the “most serious threat” in the Central and South Asia region and said the group was “projecting terror beyond Afghanistan.”

The U.S. report also cited UN officials in Afghanistan as saying the Taliban “had marginalized the minority Shi’a Muslim population in an effort to force them to leave the country.”

Copyright (c) 2024. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

Related

Taliban Leaders ‘Materialistic’ & Pursuing Multiple Marriages, Says Former EU Diplomat

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Afghanistan International: Michael Semple, a former Deputy Special Envoy of the European Union for Afghanistan, has claimed that Taliban leaders are “materialistic” and have sought second and third marriages since coming to power. He further alleged, “Since coming to power, Taliban leaders have taken second and third wives, seized land, acquired multiple luxurious homes, engaged in salary-related corruption, and extorted money.” Click here to read more (external link).

Panjshiryan Worldwide Council Publishes Names of 283 Individuals Killed by Taliban

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Afghanistan International: The council alleges that the Taliban employed horrific methods, including beheading, gouging out eyes, executing individuals in front of their parents, and severe torture. The council condemned the Taliban’s actions in Panjshir, calling them “unacceptable and criminal” under Islamic rulings, as well as national and international laws. Click here to read more (external link).

Afghan refugee breaker disqualified for wearing ‘Free Afghan Women’ cape

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Talash

AP: Refugee breaker Manizha Talash, or “b-girl Talash,” was disqualified from the first Olympic breaking competition on Friday after she wore a cape that said, “Free Afghan Women” during her prequalifier battle against India Sardjoe — known as “b-girl India.” The 21-year-old, originally from Afghanistan and representing the Olympic Refugee Team, lost in the prequalifier battle against Sardjoe and would not have advanced even if she hadn’t been disqualified. Click here to read more (external link).