Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Michael McCaul called Afghanistan under the Taliban “the most oppressive country” for women and girls in the world.
He also stressed the importance of working with U.S. allies to pressure the Taliban to end its “ceaseless human rights abuses against innocent Afghan men, women, and children.”
“We must work with our friends and allies to pressure the Taliban to lift these barbaric edicts,” McCaul said.
McCaul raised concerns over the “devastating” humanitarian crisis Afghanistan is facing under the “tyrannical rule of the Taliban.” He blamed U.S. President Joe Biden for erasing achievements regarding women’s rights and democracy in Afghanistan.
“Hard-fought gains to advance women’s rights and promote democracy were wiped out by President Biden’s decision to unilaterally withdraw,” McCaul said.
McCaul told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that girls have been banned from attending school beyond sixth grade in Afghanistan and women are banned from working for non-governmental organizations.
“We know for a fact that taxpayer-funded aid is flowing to Taliban fighters and loyalists, rather than suffering Afghan women and children,” he stated.
McCaul raised concerns about the Taliban’s oppression of religious minorities, former Afghan local workers with U.S. contractors, and the suppression of freedom of speech and press.
“We know the Taliban is oppressing religious minorities and brutally suppressing free speech and freedom of the press,” he mentioned.
The U.S. Republican congressman highlighted the Taliban’s harboring of terrorists and public executions. He emphasized U.S. support for the people of Afghanistan, saying the U.S. must adamantly oppose these human rights abuses.
McCaul also called for expediting U.S. Special Immigrant Visas to bring Afghans who worked with American contractors to the U.S.
