UN rapporteur urges governments not to normalize ties with increasingly repressive Taliban

Richard Bennett, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, has urged governments not to normalize relations with the Taliban, warning that the regime’s repression is deepening after five years in power.

“I call on member states to refrain from normalizing relations with the de facto authorities, which contributes to legitimizing them, until they reverse their deliberately oppressive policies,” Bennett told the UN Human Rights Council on Monday.

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I call on member states to refrain from normalizing relations with the de facto authorities, which contributes to legitimizing them, until they reverse their deliberately oppressive policies

He said governments might be tempted to change their approach after five years of Taliban rule, but neither engagement nor isolation appeared to have altered the regime’s conduct. “There may be a temptation to consider a change of approach, but neither dialogue with them nor their isolation seems to make any difference,” he said, adding that the Taliban had shown no sign of moderating their behavior.

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There may be a temptation to consider a change of approach, but neither dialogue with them nor their isolation seems to make any difference

Bennett pointed to decrees adopted over the past year that, he said, legitimize child marriage by allowing any girl who has reached puberty to marry. He also said the decrees authorize violence against women and girls by providing for punishment only when attacks cause broken bones or visible bruising. The ban on girls’ education, he said, was helping transform Afghan society.

“Now the Taliban’s decrees are entering the most private areas of life, from who marries and whom they marry to how Afghans practice their religion, dress and even what they can say,” Bennett said. He also raised persecution of Hazara, Tajik and Uzbek communities, as well as Shiite groups facing increasing restrictions on religious commemorations. More than 1,000 Afghan civilians have been killed in cross-border attacks linked to conflict between Pakistan and Afghanistan, he said, including a March strike on a drug rehabilitation center in Kabul. Millions of Afghans have returned from Pakistan and Iran, sometimes forcibly, and some faced reprisals because of links to the former government, minority status or LGBTQ identity.

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Now the Taliban’s decrees are entering the most private areas of life, from who marries and whom they marry to how Afghans practice their religion, dress and even what they can say