- The measures affected three ministers and the chief judge of the Taliban regime.
- The sanctions are part of Australia’s new framework aimed at putting pressure on the Taliban.
- Australia had already evacuated thousands of Afghans after the Taliban took power.
Australia imposed financial sanctions and travel bans on four Afghan Taliban government officials on Saturday over what it sees as a deteriorating human rights situation in the country, particularly for women and girls.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said officials were involved “in the oppression of women and girls and undermining good governance or the rule of law” in the Taliban-ruled country.
Australia was one of several countries that in August 2021 withdrew its troops from Afghanistan, having been part of a NATO-led international force that trained Afghan security forces and fought the Taliban for two decades after Western-backed forces ousted them from power.
Since regaining power in Afghanistan, the Taliban have been criticized for deeply restricting the rights and freedoms of women and girls by banning education and work.
The Taliban have said they respect women’s rights, in accordance with their interpretation of religious law and local customs.
Wong said in a statement that the sanctions targeted three Taliban ministers and the group’s chief justice, accusing them of restricting girls and women’s access “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 allowed 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.
Australia has taken in thousands of evacuees from Afghanistan, mostly women and children, after the Taliban regained power in the war-ravaged South Asian country, where much of the population now relies on humanitarian aid to survive.
