Rights group warns forced returns to Afghanistan intensify humanitarian crisis

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday stated that the Taliban increased their human rights violations four years after their takeover of Afghanistan, and warned that the forced returns of Afghans to Afghanistan intensify the humanitarian crisis.

Fereshta Abbasi, an Afghanistan researcher at HRW, said that the four-year mark into Taliban rule is a “grim reminder” of the magnitude of the Taliban’s human rights abuses. HRW highlights that the Taliban have continued to exclude girls from “education beyond the sixth grade and women from universities. Women also face severe restrictions on employment, freedom of movement, and access to public spaces and services.” For example, HRW labels the Taliban’s “Law on Promoting Virtue and Preventing Vice” as “draconian” since it seriously restricted w