Human Rights Watch: The International Community Has Failed to Prevent the Taliban’s Repression of the Afghan People

Photo: AFP/Getty Images via DW

On the eve of the fourth anniversary of the Taliban's return to power, Human Rights Watch, in a newly released report, has described the global community’s response to the Taliban’s widespread repression of the Afghan people as a “failure” and called for urgent action to hold the group accountable.

The organization stated on Tuesday (August 5) that over the past four years, the Taliban have intensified repression and human rights violations across the country.

Fereshta Abbasi, Human Rights Watch’s Afghanistan researcher, said that “the Taliban’s widespread human rights violations should compel countries to support the people of Afghanistan.”

In this report, Human Rights Watch also expressed concern about the situation of Afghan migrants and asylum seekers in Iran, Pakistan, Germany, and the United States, stating that they face serious challenges.

Human Rights Watch also raised alarm about the suspension of financial aid to Afghanistan and the limited access women have to food assistance, saying that the halt in U.S. funding has led to the closure of more than 400 health centers across the country.

Fereshta Abbasi emphasized that the consequences of the Taliban’s rule have become clearly evident after four years. She called on the international community to apply pressure on the Taliban to stop the ongoing human rights violations in Afghanistan.

The organization has once again called for the establishment of an effective mechanism to hold the Taliban accountable.

It is worth noting that on August 15, 2021, the Taliban, after twenty years, regained control of Afghanistan for a second time, and since then, many fundamental rights of citizens, especially women and girls, have been widely violated.