Condemnation and denunciation: Taliban responds to Security Council resolutions against it

The Taliban continues to insist on challenging international positions on many thorny files related to human rights, showing no desire to make any small concessions, even if at the expense of its most important file, international recognition, which is just around the corner from reaching a formula in principle that would allow it to do so during the international meeting held in the Qatari capital, Doha, on May 1.

Thorny file

The women's file is considered one of the thorniest issues in Afghanistan, not only since the Taliban came to power in August 2021. The traditional legacy inherited by the movement from its legitimate origins confirms that women have a special status that cannot be waived.

The Taliban is extremely strict in this file and does not accept searching for a compromise in which it would allow women to obtain an education degree, especially a university education, a right that the movement absolutely refuses to provide them with, even if with certain controls that allow them not to mix, which the movement invokes as a motive to deny women their right to education.

The matter has reached the point where Taliban Higher Education Minister Neda Mohammad Nadeem announced last December that he would not accept any concessions in this file even if the country was subjected to international sanctions or was hit by nuclear bombs, which shows how the movement deals with this file as a doctrine that is unacceptable to talk about in any way.

The movement also rejects the participation of Afghan women in public work and the work of women absolutely, which was reflected in its lack of acceptance of cooperation with foreign women working in international relief and humanitarian organizations on Afghan soil, even reaching an attempt to expel them from the country, which raised the world against the movement that deals with the women's file in a way that does not exist in any other country.

Security Council

During the sessions of the UN Security Council held on Thursday, April 27, the Council issued a unanimous resolution condemning the actions of the Taliban movement and its interim government in this thorny file, affirming that the Taliban's measure to ban women from working in international organizations in Afghanistan is an unprecedented measure in the history of the United Nations. The resolution adopted unanimously by the Security Council affirmed that the role played by women is indispensable in Afghan society and that banning their work undermines human rights and humanitarian principles.

Taliban rejection

After this resolution was issued, the Taliban reacted by completely rejecting that condemnation, and leaders in the movement confirmed that the Security Council and international organizations do not wish to understand the justifications of the movement for these measures.

Anas Haqqani, a leader in the Taliban, wrote a series of tweets in which he denounced the UN resolution, saying, “The United Nations Security Council should not continue the failed policy of pressure on the Taliban. Any position adopted by the Council in this context that is not based on a deep understanding will not give the desired results and will always be ineffective.”

“It would have been better if the UN Security Council had introduced the lifting of diplomatic and financial sanctions instead of such resolutions that amount to collective punishment of Afghans,” Haqqani added.

Regarding the Taliban’s position, Hussein Mutawa, an expert in Islamist groups, commented that the movement has no desire to reach a compromise on this issue because it considers it a contractual issue that cannot accept waiver in any way.

He added in exclusive statements to the Reference that the movement believes that international organizations do not have a deep understanding of the legal justifications, which it believes aim to protect women and not undermine their rights with such measures.

Mutawa pointed out that the problem here lies in the fact that many of the Taliban's associates and even its leaders are not practically convinced of such measures, which was evident in many of them resorting to the secret schools spread in many Afghan cities to educate their own girls.