In a report published on the first anniversary of the Taliban returning to power in Afghanistan, Human Rights Watchdog called on the US to ban the Taliban from travelling abroad.
This comes as UN Security Council (UNSC) earlier gave leaders of the Islamic Emirate exemptions to travel bans to facilitate their negotiations with the US despite its long-standing international travel ban on the Taliban leaders.
Calling out the US to ban the Islamic Emirate officials from travelling abroad, the human rights group in a statement also expressed concerns over the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan, TOLOnews reported.
"The Biden Administration and US Congress must act now and put Afghan women and girls at the centre of their diplomatic, development, and humanitarian engagement in Afghanistan. It is the US's moral duty, as well as in the US national security interest, to counter the Taliban's gender apartheid and advance security and prosperity in Afghanistan. One cannot be achieved without the other," the report read.
However, Islamic Emirate spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid denied the report's claims and said women are included in various areas.
"The women are included in all areas where they are needed such as in sectors of health, higher education, secondary education, police, and national ID and passport services," he said.
Some women's rights activists also claimed that there will be no changes in the policy of the Islamic Emirate if practical steps are not taken soon to counter the atrocious regime of the outfit in Afghanistan.
"Undoubtedly, the reports and statements which are released by the human rights organizations about the Afghan women cannot help the situation in Afghanistan," TOLOnews reported quoting Marriam Marouf, a women's rights activist as saying.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Associate Director of Women's Rights Division of Human Rights Watch (HRW), Heather Barr said that it has been 327 days now since the Taliban imposed a de facto ban on girls' secondary education in Afghanistan. That's 327 days of a nation's girls being denied education--327 days they will never get back as she condemned the Taliban regime.
Since the Taliban seized power in Kabul last year, the human rights situation has been exacerbated by a nationwide economic, financial and humanitarian crisis of unprecedented scale.
Acts of terror, killings, blasts and attacks have become a regular affair with unabated human rights violations involving ceaseless murder of civilians, destroying mosques and temples, assaulting women, and fueling terror in the region.
The Taliban dismantled the system to respond to gender-based violence, created new barriers to women accessing health care, blocked women aid workers from doing their jobs, and attacked women's rights protesters.
With the US troop's withdrawal from the country, large-scale violence has been unleashed creating political uncertainty in different parts of the country. At least 59 per cent of the population is now in need of humanitarian assistance - an increase of 6 million people compared with the beginning of 2021, according to UNAMA.
( With inputs from ANI )
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