Three years after the Taliban retook Afghanistan, prospects for change within its ranks remain distant. Rather than introducing reforms, the Taliban are imposing stricter laws — doubling down on gender-based discrimination, erasing women from public life and substantially curtailing freedom of speech. In its latest edict, the Taliban banned women hearing each other’s voices in public.
The Taliban have waged a full-fledged war against the Afghan people, and on women in particular, instituting a gender-apartheid regime. Gross human rights violations, unlawful detentions, arbitrary arrests, torture, disappearances and extra judicial killings take place on a near-daily basis.
Religious freedom has been eroded and minorities have been marginalized. Female protesters and women’s rights activists have been arrested, tortured, raped and imprisoned.
Before the Taliban’s retook the country, women made up 27 per cent of the Afghan parliament and 22 per cent of government employees. Afghanistan had over 250 female judges and four female cabinet ministers. Most importantly, nearly 40 per cent of primary school students and around a quarter of university students were girls. They are now banned, silenced and denied their fundamental rights.
The Taliban’s return ended an era of transformation the Afghans embarked on in 2001, after years of conflict and bloodshed. The world introduced universal values to the Afghan people during 20 years of engagement that had no prior precedents in Afghan society. Democracy, elections, freedom of speech, women’s rights, free and vibrant media, female empowerment and inclusion were introduced to a male-dominated and ultra-conservative society.
Now, after three years back in power, the Taliban have reversed those gains, and its leaders and key commanders are enjoying luxurious lifestyles instead, building lavish homes, accumulating wealth and entering into multiple marriages.
The international engagement and the flow of foreign cash to Kabul since 2021 has failed to avert the humanitarian crisis or to deter the Taliban from reimposing harsh restrictions, as many had assumed. Rights activists and observers who are critical of this engagement believe that it has emboldened the Taliban, legitimized the ongoing oppression and encouraged the Taliban to impose stricter laws.
The United Nations estimates that over 23-million people — more than half of Afghanistan’s population — are in need of humanitarian assistance. More Afghans are facing acute food shortages. Basic medical services are hard to come by. The mother and infant mortality rate is among the highest in the world and more children are at risk of malnourishment.
Girls and women are suffering from severe mental health issues. Cases of suicide among young girls and women have increased.
Meanwhile, a recently released report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) revealed the details of the Taliban’s systematic interference in aid operations throughout the country.
In September alone, the OCHA recorded 173 incidents of the Taliban interfering in humanitarian operations, which led to the suspension of 83 humanitarian projects. The report also said that during this period, the Taliban arrested nine aid workers, closed three aid facilities and restricted the movement of aid workers.
This is part of a trend that has seen the Taliban work to infiltrate aid operations and exert control over international aid organizations, including setting up fraudulent non-governmental organizations to appropriate foreign aid in order to fund the regime. The Taliban also benefit from taxes levied on foreign-funded aid programs and their employees.
The Taliban’s survival rests on illicit drug revenues, arms sales and extortion. It has used this money to build and fund jihadi madrassas intended to shore up its support among future generations. The country is now home to 21,000 madrassas, where a new generation of Taliban are being trained to take up the mantle of global jihad.
The Taliban’s draconian laws, gender-based discrimination and oppression has severely exacerbated the country’s humanitarian crisis. The international community must apply more sanctions on the Taliban and hold its leaders accountable for this crisis. Canada should lead a coalition of global donors who are concerned about humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan and hold the Taliban accountable.
The Taliban’s supreme leader, , must be strongly condemned and be the main target of any forthcoming sanctions. The group’s assets in Qatar, Pakistan and in other Gulf states must be frozen. The level of engagement must go down to a minimum.
The Taliban must be denied any ability to hold the Afghan people hostage over the continuation of international assistance. The international community must recalibrate its approach towards the Taliban. Travel sanctions must be collectively imposed. The Taliban’s leaders must be taken to the International Criminal Court for the crimes they commit.
From 2001 to 2021, Canada provided $3.9 billion in assistance to Afghanistan. These funds supported stabilization, reconstruction, peace and development efforts. Canada also had a military presence in Afghanistan as part of the NATO mission and endured many sacrifices, including the deaths of 159 soldiers. After 2021, Canada evacuated over 40,000 Afghans who were at risk of persecution.
Canada’s assistance to the Afghans is lifesaving and must continue, with strict conditions denying the Taliban to benefit. Canada can work with those Afghan and international NGOs that have credibility, experience and a proven track record of delivering aid. Canada must also support the Afghans to achieve a lasting political solution and peace.
The Taliban are an extreme ideological movement that opposes western values. Incentives won’t change that. Its leaders are using foreign funds to strengthen their grip on power while failing to provide for their own people. They take no responsibility for the humanitarian crisis. It is time to hold them accountable and to stop funding them.
National Post
Sediq Sediqqi served as deputy minister for strategy and policy at the Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs and spokesperson for the president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan from 2019 to 2021.