The approval of the “Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice” law, with the content it carries, has shown that the Taliban have not only failed to change but have become more extreme than before. The reactions to the approval of this law were significant, to the extent that some officials and spokespeople of the Taliban were forced to break their silence. There is no grievance with non-Western governments because they have little regard for human rights, especially women’s rights. Western governments, who seemingly present themselves as defenders of human rights, have so far done little to tame the Taliban; however, their reaction to the approval of the law was noteworthy. If non-Western, especially Islamic, countries had also taken a clear stance, the impact of these reactions would have been greater.
The world, especially the United Nations, has been on a path of engagement with the Taliban over the past three years. It is better to say that we witnessed the peak of the world’s engagement with the Taliban during this period. None of the world’s countries showed any favor to the anti-Taliban forces, so as not to offend this group. The Taliban were invited to the most important international meetings, to the extent that women and civil society were also ignored to please this group. The Taliban regime was given large sums of money, which continues to this day. If the Taliban’s oppression and tyranny were not completely ignored, they were not taken seriously either. Among them, the United Nations was more serious than other countries in its efforts to expand engagement with the Taliban. The goal of the United Nations and other governments was and is to tame the Taliban, make them members of the international community, and ultimately achieve their most significant wish: recognition.
The result of three years of engagement and flexibility has been nothing but making the Taliban bolder in the face of the world’s demands, especially those of the United Nations. This group has not only failed to comply with any of the world’s demands but has also increasingly attempted to openly violate all the fundamental rights and freedoms of the Afghan people, especially women, and girls, without feeling accountable to any authority—domestic or foreign. The content of the new law is so unjust that even Taliban members do not dare to defend it properly, let alone the institutions and governments lobbying for this group.
The prevention of Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, from entering Afghanistan is no less consequential than the approval of the new law. Bennett holds official and legal responsibility in the highest global institution, yet the Taliban, as an irresponsible armed group, prevented his entry into Afghanistan. This is also a result of the United Nations’ unlimited flexibility toward this group. The Taliban are preventing the most prominent UN member from traveling to Afghanistan, even though this organization recently granted the Taliban full access to the third Doha meeting, to the extent that women and civil society were not allowed entry. More importantly, questioning women’s and girls’ education has also been prohibited recently. Neda Mohammad Nadeem, the Taliban’s Minister of Higher Education, forbids questions about girls’ education, even though a short while ago, Mullah Abdul Kabir, the group’s Deputy Prime Minister for Political Affairs, made a mocking smile in response to a journalist’s question regarding girls’ education during a live television program, which received widespread media coverage. These words and actions demonstrate that the Taliban are getting worse, not better.
Surprisingly, Rosemary DiCarlo, the UN Under-Secretary-General, also reacted to the Taliban’s new law, despite having endured much criticism to please this group by excluding women and civil society from the Doha meeting. This is why Afghan citizens have become pessimistic about the approach of governments and organizations that position themselves as defenders of human rights. The UN’s reaction to the Taliban’s recent law was not serious. The criticisms of the UN members revolved around the notion that with this action, the Taliban made the process of their integration into the international community more difficult. It can be said that the UN might never agree to exert serious pressure on the Taliban. The visit of Roza Otunbayeva, the UNAMA head, to Kandahar is noteworthy; it indicates a desire to show seriousness in defending women’s rights. It was said that she went to Kandahar to meet with Mullah Hibatullah. But does this absent and misogynistic cleric, who just passed a new law that is severely anti-women, meet with a woman to discuss women’s rights? Otunbayeva’s meeting with Mullah Hibatullah will not break the deadlock. The Taliban leader is well aware of the magnitude of the reactions and does not feel the need for Otunbayeva to convey them.
Only one factor can bring Hibatullah down from his high horse of ignorance: maximum pressure. It is now time for governments to reconsider their approach to dealing with the Taliban, especially if democracy, human rights, the lives of Afghan women, and countering terrorism are truly important to them. Sanctioning the Taliban is one effective option for reforming this group. Of course, this group’s officials have repeatedly claimed over the past three years that they are under sanctions, but the significant financial aid they receive and their constant travels to countries in the West and East indicate warm relations. If the world does not provide sufficient support to the anti-Taliban fronts, it should at least lower the level of engagement with them as a warning to the Hibatullah regime. If supporting anti-Taliban forces is costly for the United Nations and countries, backing women, civil society, free media, and others is not, yet even this has been withheld.
In conclusion, as long as the Taliban do not feel heavy pressure on their shoulders, they will enact more unjust laws, and the world will continue to be a bystander because this group believes that the world has only one option: engagement. This belief has turned the Taliban into a delusional and selfish entity that does not value the demands of the Afghan people and the world.
You can read the Persian version of this analysis here:
