- The measures affected three ministers of the Taliban regime and the president of the Supreme Court.
- The sanctions are part of Australia’s new framework to pressure the Taliban.
- Australia previously evacuated thousands of Afghans after the Aliban takeover.
Australia on Saturday imposed financial sanctions and travel bans on four officials of Afghanistan’s Taliban government over what it said was a deteriorating human rights situation in the country, especially for women and girls.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the officials were involved “in the oppression of women and girls and undermining good governance or the rule of law” in the Taliban-ruled country.
Australia was one of several nations that in August 2021 withdrew troops from Afghanistan, after being part of a NATO-led international force that trained Afghan security forces and fought the Taliban for two decades after Western-backed forces ousted them from power.
The Taliban, since regaining power in Afghanistan, has been criticized for deeply restricting the rights and freedoms of women and girls through bans on education and work.
The Taliban have said they respect women’s rights, in accordance with their interpretation of religious law and local customs.
Wong said in a statement that the sanctions targeted three Taliban ministers and the group’s chief justice, accusing them of restricting girls and women’s access “to education, employment, freedom of movement and the ability to participate in public life.”
The measures were part of a new framework by the Australian government that allowed it to “directly impose its own sanctions and travel bans to increase pressure on the Taliban, targeting the oppression of the Afghan people,” Wong said.
Australia welcomed thousands of evacuees, mostly women and children, from Afghanistan after the Taliban regained power in the war-torn South Asian country, where much of the population now depends on humanitarian aid to survive.
