Rina Amiri, US Special Envoy for Women’s Affairs in Afghanistan, has expressed concern about the dissolution of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, the Independent Commission for Overseeing the Implementation of the Constitution and the High Council for National Reconciliation by the Taliban.
Last night, Saturday, she tweeted that the dissolution of these government institutions contradicts Afghan demands and must be “remedied”.
She also said that “restoration of rights of women & girls & protection of vulnerable populations are essential to any progress with the Taliban.”
She also spoke with Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Taliban’s acting Foreign Minister, and US Special Representative for Afghanistan Thomas West recently.
Special Representative, West, tweeted that he had “conveyed unified int’l opposition to ongoing and expanding restrictions on women and girls’ rights and role in society.”
Dialogue with the Taliban will continue, according to Thomas West, in support of the Afghan people and the US national interest.
The Taliban’s dismantling of legal institutions and commissions prompted widespread condemnation from around the world.
The Taliban’s decision to dissolve major institutions in Afghanistan, according to EU Special Representative for Afghanistan Tomas Niklasson, is a concerning message for human rights and national reconciliation.
All of these institutions, EU Representative Niklasson added, are required and necessary in Afghanistan after decades of violence and conflict.
Von Brandt, the EU Ambassador to Afghanistan, expressed concern over the Taliban’s decision on Twitter, saying that only legitimate governments have the right to suggest changes in the institutional set-up.
Ambassador Brandt continued by stating that national human rights institutions serve as the link to the outside world, but that these links are being destroyed in Afghanistan.
Following the Taliban’s reemergence in Afghanistan, the group shut down a number of institutions, notably the Electoral Commission and the Ministry of Women’s Affairs in addition to the six newly dissolved institutions.
