Sanctions, travel bans on Taliban result in Afghanistan being ‘ruptured from international community’

“While much of the law was already in place in prior decrees or edicts of the de facto authorities, this law introduces a new deterioration where we thought there was nowhere lower to go,” said Sima Sami Bahous, Executive Director of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women).

The law — made public on August 21 by the de facto Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice — requires women and girls to cover their entire bodies and faces everywhere outside their homes, she said, adding that it also forbids their speaking in public, using public transportation alone, or even looking at men to whom they are not related by blood or marriage.

Citing surveys that 64 percent of women felt completely unsafe leaving their house by themselves, she said that 70 percent of those attributed their insecurity to harassment by the de facto authorities.  The Afghan economy will lose 5 percent of GDP annually by excluding women from the workforce, and the equivalent of two thirds of today’s GDP by 2066 if the suspension of women’s access to higher education remains in place.

Against this backdrop, Ms. Bahous urged greater long-term, flexible funding to support women-led civil society organizations, and commitment to devote at least 30 percent of all funding for Afghanistan to initiatives that directly target gender equality and women’s rights.  “No more gender-blind interventions,” she said, adding that the international community must also stop sending all-male delegations to meet with the Taliban.

“We cannot and will not stay silent in the face of this institutionalized system of gender discrimination, segregation and oppression,” said Tanja Fajon, Slovenia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign and European Affairs.  “We don’t expect quick solutions,” she said, adding, however, that “the international community, particularly the Security Council, should not turn a blind eye from Afghan women and girls disappearing from public life”.

Also briefing the Council was Roza Otunbayeva, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), who cautioned that the country “is ruptured from the international community”, with many of Taliban de facto ministers under sanctions and travel bans.  Afghanistan’s Central Bank assets are frozen, limiting the development potential of the private sector, and the de facto authorities have no representation in multilateral institutions, she added.

The United Nations invited Taliban representatives to the third meeting in the Doha format in July, she said, noting that it allowed Member States and international organizations to engage directly with the de facto authorities on various concerns, including human rights.

However, the Western approach of pinning all responsibility on the Taliban is “a road to nowhere”, warned the Russian Federation’s delegate, noting that, despite unprecedented unilateral sanctions and predictions from Western countries following the Taliban’s rise to power, Afghanistan has managed to avoid a civil war and “has not turned into a black hole”.  Commending the Taliban’s efforts to “focus on strengthening regional cooperation and rebuilding social economic capacity”, he stressed the need for “patient dialogue without any blackmail or pressure”.

On that, China’s diplomat asked the Council to reactivate “the package of exceptions” to the travel ban on the interim Government members and adjust the 1988 sanctions regime.  With 24 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, he urged relevant States “to immediately end illegal unilateral sanctions and respect Afghanistan’s indigenous right to development”.

However, the representative of the United States cautioned that the worsening human rights situation in Afghanistan is “increasingly raising questions about the merits of engaging the Taliban”, adding that “meaningful steps towards normalization” with the Taliban “will be based on their own actions, including respecting the rights of all Afghans” and fulfilling their counter-terrorism commitments.

Also participating in the Wednesday debate was a diplomat representing the previous Government in Kabul overthrown by the Taliban.  “Afghanistan was not perfect before the Taliban’s takeover,” he observed, pointing out, however, that now it is “the only country where girls are not allowed to study beyond sixth grade”.

With over 70 decrees aimed at excluding women from public life, “a systematic erasure has led to a gender apartheid regime”, he said.  Further, the crisis has fueled a migration emergency induced by violence and economic collapse.  The Taliban has “distorted Islamic laws to enforce a harsh ideology, effectively holding the Afghan people hostage”, he said, urging the appointment of a Special Envoy to spearhead efforts towards a genuine national dialogue to establish a legitimate governance system that reflects the people’s will, upholds the rule of law and ensures women’s full and meaningful participation.

Some of Afghanistan’s neighbors, meanwhile, took the floor to detail their engagement with Kabul.  India’s representative said that his country has been committed to rebuilding Afghanistan, having delivered 27 tons of relief material and has granted fresh admission to 2,260 Afghan students — “including 300 girls” since August 2021.  The representative of Turkmenistan underscored that “key solutions should be found by regional players”, stressing that the implementation of large-scale infrastructure projects in Afghanistan is necessary for political stabilization and socioeconomic revival — “and its successful engagement in regional and global relations”.

Others, however, detailed the challenges they are facing. Iran’s representative pointed to an influx of illegal migrants that places “a heavy burden on our country, already strained by unlawful unilateral sanctions”.  Over 6 million Afghans currently live in Iran, with an annual cost exceeding US$10 billion.  “But, the international community has shown little concern for this pressing issue,” he stressed, urging sustained support to countries, like his own and Pakistan — whose delegate said that there will be no normalization “until the fundamental issues that trouble Afghanistan are addressed — terrorism, human rights, political inclusion, illegal Afghan migration and the problem of Afghan refugees”. Adding that the Taliban has “doubled down on misogyny”, he said:  “Engagement cannot be pursued for its own sake — if we don’t know where we are going, we will never get there.”