The EU’s special envoy for Afghanistan, Gilles Bertrand, has condemned the Taliban’s response to recent protests in Herat, describing the arrests of women and the subsequent crackdown on demonstrators as “extremely serious.”
In an exclusive interview with Amu TV, Bertrand said Afghan women should not be subjected to violence and repression in addition to the sweeping restrictions already imposed on them by Taliban.
“We think that what’s happening at this moment is extremely serious,” Bertrand said. “We feel that the women of Afghanistan cannot, on top of it, be subjected to the kind of violent actions and repression that we have seen from the part of the de facto authorities, and we very much condemn that evolution.”
His remarks come after Taliban detained dozens of women in Herat over alleged violations of dress requirements, prompting public protests and international condemnation.
The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan has confirmed that at least 30 women were detained between June 6 and June 7 by officials from the Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice and Taliban police.
The arrests triggered protests in the Jebrail area of Herat on June 9. UNAMA later confirmed that at least one boy was killed by gunfire during the demonstrations and that several others were injured. The UN mission has said it is investigating reports of a second fatality.
Asked whether the EU had directly raised the issue with Taliban following the violence, Bertrand said Brussels had communicated its concerns through both public and private channels.
“There are a number of messages that we have passed,” he said. “We pass them discreetly. We pass them publicly.”
He added that the European Union’s position on women’s rights in Afghanistan has remained consistent since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.
“Our message on women’s rights is very well known,” Bertrand said. “We condemn what is happening at the moment in Herat, and this is very much a clear policy by the European Union that has been the same throughout and will never change.”
Bertrand also highlighted EU programs aimed at supporting Afghan women despite growing restrictions on their rights and freedoms.
“There’s a number of things that we do through our aid programmes,” he said. “We work a lot on female entrepreneurship. We work on a number of programmes to continue encouraging schooling, even by different informal ways. We work on the role of women in their community and in business.”
He said support for women and girls remains a central element of the European Union’s engagement with Afghanistan.
The remarks come amid mounting international criticism of Taliban policies toward women. Since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban have barred girls from secondary and higher education, restricted women’s employment and movement, and imposed increasingly strict rules governing public life.
The recent arrests in Herat and the subsequent protest crackdown have drawn condemnation from UNAMA, UN Women, Human Rights Watch and UN human rights experts, all of whom have called on Taliban to respect fundamental rights, including freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
