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Taliban
OpinionComment
Chris Fitzgerald
Chris Fitzgerald

Opinion | Taliban’s repressive rule in Afghanistan is driving its own demise

  • Two years after coming to power, the regime’s systematic repression of women, minorities and former officials is not just inhumane, but will in the end destabilise the country
  • Afghanistan’s neighbours, including China, will not tolerate its descent into chaos

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Afghan boys gather to mark the second anniversary of the US withdrawal, in Kandahar, Afghanistan, on August 31. With its extreme interpretation of Islam, the Taliban is seeking to turn Afghanistan into an ideological state. Photo: EPA-EFE
Chris Fitzgerald
A damning report handed down by the United Nations this week reveals that the Taliban’s repression in Afghanistan is not solely directed at women. It shows a systematic targeting of former officials and minority groups that threatens to tear the country apart.
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The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (Unama) has recorded “credible reports” of serious human rights violations by the Taliban against those associated with the former Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

This includes at least 800 cases of extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests and detention, torture, and enforced disappearance against government officials and members of the armed forces. The UN mission’s interviews with victims and their families has revealed a climate of fear.

The Taliban had promised a general amnesty for former officials and members of the armed forces when it retook power in 2021. At the time, spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid claimed that “nobody will be harmed in Afghanistan” and that “there is a huge difference between us now and 20 years ago”.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, said the Taliban’s broken promises were a “betrayal of people’s trust”.

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The movement is already systematically removing women from Afghan society despite early promises to respect their rights. This includes barring them from education and employment – most recently banning beauty parlours, denying women one of the few remaining avenues of work open to them – enforcing veiling and forbidding freedom of movement. The situation has got so bad that UN representatives have labelled the treatment of Afghan women as “gender apartheid”.
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