The United States left Afghanistan more than a year ago, but it still intends to influence the fate of this country. Washington is already using the financial weapon by freezing Afghan Central Bank funds on its soil to sanction the seizure of power by force in August 2021 and failure to comply with international human rights standards. US authorities are now stepping up pressure by restricting the freedom of movement of Taliban leaders around the world. On Tuesday 11 October, the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, imposed new sanctions in this direction, in retaliation for the treatment of women and girls in Afghanistan.
This was announced by the head of American diplomacy “restrictions on the granting of visas (…) to current and former Taliban members and other individuals held responsible or complicit in the repression of women and girls through restrictive policies and violence “. This decision was made on the occasion of the 10th International Children’s Day. According to Mr. Blinken, Afghanistan remains, “For a year it has been the only country in the world where girls have been systematically banned from going to school beyond sixth grade, with no return date in sight”.
In January 2019, in the midst of peace negotiations with Afghan Islamists, the United States itself had endorsed the removal of the qualification “terrorist” applied to the Taliban. In the process, they gave the green light to the withdrawal of a large number of their leaders from the list of terrorist groups sanctioned by the UN Security Council, once again opening the possibility of travel to these personalities.
Surprise in Kabul
The United Nations political mission in Afghanistan has detected new acts of repression against Afghan women in recent weeks. Fearing that the revolt in Iran on the issue of women will spread oil in their country, the Taliban security forces have been following all forms of solidarity expressed in favor of Iranian women for two weeks. Already on 29 September the Taliban dispersed a demonstration in front of the Iranian embassy in Kabul by shooting in the air. At the cries of “Women, life, freedom”, in the Dari language, the Afghan Persian, about thirty women had been able to make themselves heard briefly before being chased away by the Taliban guards. Some beat participants with their weapons after taking down banners with slogans such as “Iran is growing, now it’s up to us”, “From Kabul to Iran, say no to the dictatorship! “
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