Abdul Mateen Qani, the spokesperson for the Taliban-run Ministry of Interior, has dismissed international criticism of the group’s human rights record as “disgraceful and absurd slogans.”
In a statement issued on Friday, marking the anniversary of the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan, Qani claimed that these criticisms have been propagated by both Islamic and non-Islamic countries and are irrelevant to the situation in Afghanistan.
Qani further urged the Islamic community to draw lessons from the conflict in Gaza and resist what he described as Western-imposed human rights standards.
His remarks come amid increasing condemnation from human rights organizations over the Taliban’s continued violations, particularly in light of newly enacted laws that have severely restricted women’s rights. Human rights groups have warned that these actions could constitute crimes against humanity.
One of the most controversial of the new laws prohibits women from showing their faces or raising their voices in public. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has condemned the Taliban’s recently ratified “Law on the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice,” warning that its 35 articles impose sweeping restrictions on personal conduct and grant morality police broad and arbitrary powers of enforcement.
