KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The Canadian government has strongly condemned the Taliban’s “ongoing repression, systematic human rights abuses, and erosion of fundamental freedoms,” emphasizing that the group must be held accountable.
The statement, issued on the fourth anniversary of the Taliban’s return to power on August 15, Canadian ministers, including Foreign Minister Anita Anand, said relations with the Taliban cannot be normalized until “tangible” progress is made.
“Four years after the Taliban’s return to power, Afghanistan remains in the grip of a deepening crisis,” the statement said. “The reversal of rights, especially for women and girls, has been devastating.”
The Canadian officials said that civil society has been extinguished, the Taliban show no intention of forming an inclusive government, and terrorist groups are again operating freely, posing risks to regional and global security.
“The Taliban must be held accountable for their actions,” the statement added. “There can be no normalization of relations with the Taliban until there is tangible progress on human rights, inclusive governance, and the protection of fundamental freedoms.”
Since Kabul’s fall in 2021, Canada has resettled more than 59,000 Afghans and provided over $433 million in humanitarian and development aid to the people of Afghanistan, according to the statement.
“Canada stands by the people of Afghanistan in their fight for a stable, secure, and peaceful Afghanistan where no one lives in fear or under oppression,” the statement concluded.
Four years into Taliban rule, the human rights situation in Afghanistan has continued to deteriorate. The regime has banned women and girls from education and barred them from working in most sectors, including with UN agencies.
Rights groups have urged the international community to recognize the Taliban’s policies toward women as gender apartheid — a term increasingly used by activists and some UN experts to describe the systematic exclusion of women from public life.
The Taliban, however, says its policies are consistent with its interpretation of Islamic law, insisting that other governments and international organizations should not interfere in Afghanistan’s internal affairs.
