Women’s Political Participation Network: Global Silence on the Abduction of Girls in Kabul Is Complicity with the Taliban

Photo by Victor J. Blue for The New York Times

The Women’s Political Participation Network of Afghanistan, in statement, has called the wave of arrests of women and girls in Kabul a “systematic crime” and expressed deep concern over the silence of the international community in the face of this situation.

In the statement, published today, Monday, July 21, it is stated that in recent days, Taliban forces have illegally and without any accountability abducted innocent women and girls from the streets of Kabul. Meanwhile, there is no official information available regarding the reason for their arrest, their place of detention, or their health status, leaving their families in a state of distress and uncertainty.

The network emphasized that the abduction of women and girls is a clear and flagrant violation of human rights and women’s rights. However, what deepens this tragedy, according to the network, is the “heavy and unjustifiable silence of the international community” regarding these events. This silence, from the perspective of the network, is viewed as “legitimizing violence and being complicit with oppression.”

The Women’s Political Participation Network of Afghanistan, strongly condemning these actions, has called for an immediate end to the arrests and the release of the abducted women. It urged the international community, media, human rights organizations, and governments to break their silence against this systematic violation of women’s rights and take “immediate and effective action.”

The statement concludes by stressing that the Taliban must be held accountable for these inhumane actions and that the international community cannot remain indifferent to such crimes.