Australia hits Afghan Taliban officials with sanctions, travel bans

Australia on Saturday imposed financial sanctions and travel bans on four officials in Afghanistan’s Taliban government over what it said was a deteriorating human rights situation in the country, especially for women and girls.

Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the officials were involved “in the oppression of women and girls and in undermining good governance or the rule of law” in the Taliban-run country.

ALSO READ | Meta says starting to remove under-16s from social media in Australia

Australia was one of several nations which in August 2021 pulled troops out of 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 the Islamist militants from power.

The Taliban, since regaining power in Afghanistan, has been criticised for deeply restricting the rights and freedoms of women and girls through bans on education and work.

The Taliban has said it respects women’s rights, in line with its interpretation of Islamic law and local custom.

ALSO READ | Clashes erupt again on Pakistan-Afghanistan border, Taliban says 4 civilians dead

Wong said in a statement the sanctions targeted three Taliban ministers and the group’s chief justice, accusing them of restricting access for girls and women “to education, employment, freedom of movement and the ability to participate in public life”.

The measures were part of a new Australian government framework that enabled 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.

ALSO READ | UK sanctions Sikh bizman, group over pro-Khalistan terrorism in India

Australia took in thousands of evacuees, mostly women and children, from Afghanistan after the Taliban retook power in the war-shattered South Asian country, where much of the population now relies on humanitarian aid to survive.