Representative Michael McCaul, the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has criticized President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, calling for them to be held accountable for the Taliban’s ongoing restrictions on women in Afghanistan.
In a statement, McCaul asserted that the Biden administration abandoned the conditions set by the previous administration under the Doha Agreement, which conditioned the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan on the Taliban’s commitment to basic human rights, including the rights of women.
“Under President Trump, the Doha Agreement required the Taliban to meet specific benchmarks, such as respecting women’s rights, as a condition for U.S. withdrawal,” McCaul said. “The Biden-Harris administration disregarded those conditions and, in doing so, abandoned Afghan women.”
McCaul’s comments come as the Taliban continues to enforce severe restrictions on women and girls, including banning them from public spaces and requiring them to cover their faces and remain largely confined to their homes.
“As the Taliban imposes some of the harshest restrictions on women in the world, Afghan women deserve better,” McCaul stated. “President Biden and Vice President Harris must be held accountable for their complicity in the Taliban’s abuses.”
The Taliban’s actions have drawn widespread condemnation from human rights organizations and the international community, who have called on the group to reverse its policies that have effectively erased women from public life in Afghanistan.
