US State Dept pressures Taliban to revoke discriminatory decrees against Afghan women

The U.S. State Department asserts it’s pressuring the Taliban alongside allies and partners to rescind discriminatory laws against Afghan women and girls.

It states that any significant steps toward normalizing relations with the Taliban are contingent upon a profound change in their behaviour.

The State Department wrote in its annual report on the status of women in Afghanistan that the Taliban have effectively excluded women from the public sphere with their directives.

The report highlights widespread violations of women’s rights and sexual violence against them. In one section, it mentions that 16 women out of 90 imprisoned women in Jawzjan, Faryab, and Samangan became pregnant after being raped by Taliban members. According to the report, the Taliban have executed at least four women in Samangan after repeated assaults.

The U.S. State Department added that in response to the Taliban’s actions restricting women, in February 2023, it imposed restrictions on visa issuance for some current and former Taliban officials and individuals involved in suppressing and depriving Afghan women and girls of education and work opportunities in non-governmental organizations.

The department stated that on December 8th of last year, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on two Taliban members for their involvement in serious human rights violations, including restricting girls’ access to secondary education.

According to the department, Khalid Hanafi, the Taliban Minister of Virtue and Vice, was sanctioned for his involvement in serious human rights violations, including murder, kidnapping, lashing, and beating Afghan citizens, including women and girls.

The department mentioned that Mawlawi Faridudin Mahmood, the head of the Afghanistan Institute of Sciences, was sanctioned for his involvement in serious human rights violations related to regulating, publishing, and enforcing regulations to restrict access for all women and girls in Afghanistan solely based on their gender.

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