Afghanistan… New US sanctions increase the isolation of the Taliban
Just over a year ago, the Taliban would prove to the international community that they were not a conventional government, but an extremist organization that turned Afghanistan into hell. The US would announce new sanctions against the Taliban for their repressive treatment of women and girls in Afghanistan, as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken unveiled a new visa-restriction policy for current or former Taliban members and others involved in repressing women through restrictive policies and violence.
Subduing the Taliban
Blinken’s announcement coincided with United Nations International Girls’ Day. “As a grim example, for more than a year, Afghanistan remains the only country in the world where girls are systematically prevented from going to school after grade six, with no return date in sight,” Blinken said. According to VOA, after the extremist movement seized power in August 2021 following the withdrawal of US-led forces, the hardline Taliban movement prevented girls from attending secondary schools, but women are allowed to attend university.
Suicide bombing
The targeting of women in Afghanistan did not stop at the denial of education. A recent suicide bombing in a classroom in the capital Kabul killed and injured dozens of students as they prepared for exams. According to the American network, the United Nations estimated the number of dead at 53, including 46 girls and young women. The suicide bomber blew himself up next to women in a segregated classroom crowded with hundreds of students undergoing a university entrance training.
