The EU on Sunday said it was âparticularly concernedâ about worsening conditions for women and girls in Afghanistan after the countryâs ruling Taliban violently broke up a womenâs rally.
Taliban fighters on Saturday fired in the air and beat up protesters taking part in a womenâs âbread, work and freedomâ march in Kabul. Some women were chased into nearby shops and hit with rifle butts.
The violence underscored the Talibanâs increasing restrictions, especially on women, since they seized back control of Afghanistan a year ago, on August 15, 2021.
âThe EU is particularly concerned by the fate of Afghan women and girls who have seen their freedoms, rights and access to basic services such as education being systematically denied,â the office of EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement.
âThe EU reiterates that Afghanistan must adhere to the international treaties to which it is a State Party, including by upholding and protecting economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights, and allow for full, equal and meaningful representation and participation of all Afghans in the governing of the country.â
It also stressed that âAfghanistan must also not pose a security threat to any countryâ per UN Security Council resolutions.
The Taliban have claimed having had no knowledge about the presence of Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri in Afghanistan, after the US announced August 2 it had killed him in Kabul with a drone strike.
The EU statement noted that the blocâs supply of basic humanitarian assistance to Afghanistanâs people was contingent on âa stable, peaceful and prosperousâ country and the Taliban upholding human rights principles, âin particular the rights of women and girls, children and minoritiesâ.