The European Union and Uzbekistan have expressed concern over the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan during their recent Cooperation Council meeting in Luxembourg.

Richard Bennett, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, has condemned the recent execution in Badghis province, saying that the Taliban are using public executions as a tool to intimidate the population and enforce social control.

Human Rights Watch has said that since the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan, they have carried out an unprecedented crackdown on press freedom and have nearly eliminated women’s presence in the media.

Amid the Taliban’s sweeping restrictions that have severely limited the work of women journalists across Afghanistan, a new radio station called (Nawai Zan) has begun broadcasting in Herat, focusing exclusively on the work of female reporters.