The Kabul Tribune (KT) — Five years after the fall of Kabul and the Taliban’s return to power, Australia said it would continue efforts to hold the Taliban accountable while remembering those who served and died during the country’s military involvement in Afghanistan.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a statement
on X that Australia’s thoughts were with the people of Afghanistan and Afghan
communities around the world.
“Five years since the fall of Kabul, our thoughts are with
the people of Afghanistan & Afghan communities around the world,” Wong
said. “We honour Australians who served in Afghanistan and remember those who
are no longer with us.”
Wong added that Australia would “continue to work to hold
the Taliban to account.”
The anniversary comes as Afghan women and girls continue to
face sweeping restrictions under Taliban rule. Amnesty International has
described the measures as a systematic campaign that has severely curtailed
women’s and girls’ rights to education, movement, employment and participation
in public life.
After the Taliban seized power in August 2021, the group
dismantled key institutions established to protect women’s rights, including
the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, which was replaced by the Ministry of
Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.
Girls’ secondary education was suspended in most provinces,
while women protesters and activists faced intimidation and arbitrary arrest.
The restrictions also extended to women’s freedom of
movement. Women were barred from traveling long distances — defined as 72
kilometers, or about 45 miles — without a male chaperone, known as a mahram.
Five years after the Taliban takeover, Afghanistan remains
the focus of international concern over human rights, security and the
treatment of women and girls.
