Canada Urged to Restart Engagement with Taliban on Afghan Women's Rights

Five years have passed since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan on August 15, 2021, marking it as one of the worst countries in the world for women.

The current state is an uneasy peace, where those who disrupted the peace now hold power. However, this has not brought peace to Afghan women and girls, who are denied education beyond grade six and cannot work to support themselves.

Under Taliban rule, women face severe restrictions, including being publicly whipped for showing their faces, being punished by death by stoning for alleged crimes such as speaking to a man they're not related to, and facing legal spousal abuse with no visible wounds.

The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan affects 21 million people, with 14 million facing acute hunger. Women are disproportionately affected, and efforts to engage with the Taliban have been criticized for entrenching gender apartheid.

Canada can play a role in pushing back against this thinking by joining other countries in making an economic argument for greater inclusion. Leaving half of Afghanistan's population out of society sets up its economy for certain failure, and Canada has the opportunity to join other G7+ countries and China in the UN's Doha process.

This could also involve establishing diplomatic channels with more moderate Taliban officials, progressive local leaders, and ethnic-minority communities. This would remind Afghans and our partners that Canada remains a principled player, as stated by Prime Minister Mark Carney: 'engagement is not endorsement.'