Afghanistan: Two years after the Taliban regained power, France intends to apply pressure to improve the lot of women

On the occasion of the two-year anniversary of the return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan, France demonstrated on Tuesday its desire to apply pressure to improve the lot of the people of this country, in particular women. These Islamist fundamentalists, who ruled the country between 1996 and 2001 before being ousted by NATO military intervention, recaptured Kabul on August 15, 2021, reasserting their rule over the country.

Despite their promise not to restore the harsh regime they imposed when they first came to power, the Taliban authorities quickly curtailed rights, in particular for women, banning them from university or walking in public gardens. For example.

“Despite the commitments they have made, it is clear that the decisions taken by the Taliban over the past two years demonstrate their failure to meet the expectations of the international community as set out in UN Security Council Resolution 2593,” a press release said Tuesday. Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs.

The UN panel also denounced on Monday the unfulfilled promises of the Taliban to establish a more flexible regime. “Despite the assurances of the de facto Taliban authorities (…) the facts on the ground demonstrated the existence of an accelerated, systematic and global system of segregation, marginalization and persecution,” these experts noted.

“Improving the Plight of Afghan Women”

“We continue and will continue to use every leverage at our disposal to seek to improve the lot of Afghans and Afghans by increasing pressure on the Taliban,” Paris added.

“France will not compromise on the rights and freedoms of Afghan women. It reaffirms (…) its strongest condemnation of the Taliban’s abuses of the rights of women and girls, in particular the decision taken in December 2022 to ban women from entering universities and working in NGOs,” the ministry stressed.

“We call on the Taliban to reconsider these unacceptable decisions that exclude half of the Afghan population from the public sphere and jeopardize the country’s economic and social development prospects,” the Quai d’Orsay continued.