Michael McCaul: We Cannot Forget the Millions of Women Suffering Under the Taliban

These remarks were published on the House Foreign Affairs Committee's X account.

McCaul criticized the Biden-Harris administration's policies on Afghanistan, emphasizing that their "hollow" promises to help Afghan women have allowed the "Taliban regime" to escalate their attacks on women, even going so far as to prohibit them from showing their eyes in public.

He noted that when the Biden-Harris administration abandoned the people of Afghanistan, the Taliban were emboldened to dismantle decades of progress in protecting the rights of women and girls. McCaul further added, "The international community must remain firm in not recognizing the Taliban."

This reaction comes as the Taliban's Ministry of Justice recently announced that the group's leader has enacted the "Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice" law, which is now in effect.

This law mandates that women must cover their entire bodies, and it states that a woman's voice is considered part of her "aura" (private parts). According to this law, women's clothing must not be short, thin, or tight, and when leaving the house, women must cover their faces, voices, and bodies.

The law also imposes extensive restrictions on the appearance of men, prohibiting them from shaving or trimming their beards.

Additionally, the Taliban have banned listening to music and watching films and pictures of living beings on computers and mobile phones, with various punishments imposed on those who violate the law.