KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The French government has criticized the Taliban’s policies toward women, stressing that progress in Afghanistan is impossible with the exclusion of half its population from public and economic life.
In a statement marking the third anniversary of the Taliban’s return to power, the French Foreign Ministry condemned the Taliban’s “intolerable violations” of the rights of women and girls.
“By erasing women from Afghan society and thereby excluding half the country’s population from public and economic life, these serious infringements make the country’s development in any kind of way impossible,” the ministry said.
“We repeat that no return to normal can be envisaged without a halt to the violence and the threats against women, and a lifting of these restrictions,” it added.
The ministry stated that three years after the Taliban’s return to power, the French government remains committed to using all available leverage to improve the situation for the Afghan people.
During the three years of Taliban rule, Afghanistan has become one of the most oppressive countries for women and girls. The regime has severely restricted their movements, denying them access to education, employment, social mobility, and other fundamental freedoms.
UN experts, rights groups, and activists all say that the Taliban’s oppression of women and girls amounts to a system of apartheid, designed to deliberately subjugate them based solely on their gender.
Over the past two days, numerous women’s rights groups and activists, including those within Afghanistan, have protested the Taliban’s misogynistic policies, urging the international community to take action.
The women activists argued that despite clear evidence of human rights violations, the UN and international community have not done enough to confront the Taliban and protect women and girls.
They urged the UN and international community to take immediate and concrete actions against the Taliban, including imposing sanctions, enforcing diplomatic isolation, and establishing an independent body to monitor human rights conditions in Afghanistan and ensure accountability for violations.
The French Foreign Ministry also accused the Taliban of failing to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 2593 of 2021, saying that the regime has repeatedly violated human rights and not met its commitments.
The ministry expressed concern about the dire humanitarian situation in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, vowing to continue supporting the Afghan people through humanitarian projects run by UN agencies and NGOs on the ground.
