The Purple Saturdays Movement, led by women’s rights activist Maryam Maroof Arwin, in a statement on Sunday, said that further international engagement with the Taliban would embolden their “systematic oppression and organized crimes” against Afghan citizens, particularly women.
The statement claims that the world has ignored “the Taliban’s crimes against humanity” and sustained their grip on power. According to the movement, this approach has not only contributed to a humanitarian catastrophe and widespread human rights violations—especially against women, vulnerable ethnic groups, and religious minorities—but has also emboldened the Taliban to escalate these abuses.
The Purple Saturdays Movement warns that Taliban-controlled Afghanistan has become a “serious threat” to both regional and global peace and security.
“While Taliban lobbyists attempt to whitewash their self-proclaimed government,” the statement reads, “the Taliban have yet to take even the smallest practical step toward reconciliation with the Afghan people, meaningful engagement with the international community, or reducing the scale of their atrocities.”
The activists expressed grave concern over efforts to normalize relations with the Taliban, cautioning that any move to “legitimize Taliban rule” would have catastrophic and irreversible consequences.
The movement also urged the global community to reject narratives portraying the Taliban as reformists, arguing that such engagement not only lacks sufficient deterrence against human rights abuses but also risks strengthening “extremist and terror groups” beyond Afghanistan’s borders.
Since retaking power in 2021, the Taliban have severely curtailed the rights and freedoms of Afghan citizens, particularly women. Girls and women have been banned from attending secondary schools and universities, and many women have been barred from the workforce and public spaces.
Meanwhile, countries participating in the recent Moscow Format meeting on Afghanistan emphasized that Afghan territory must not be used against other nations and called on the Taliban to take decisive action against terrorist groups without selective enforcement.
