‘Deeply concerned’: Australia sanctions Taliban leaders
Senior Taliban officials have been sanctioned and banned from traveling to Australia as the federal government steps up pressure on the militant group.
Australia applied the measures to three Taliban ministers and Afghanistan’s chief justice; This means Australians will be banned from supplying them with weapons or similar services and using or dealing with their assets and funds from Saturday.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong took aim at the Taliban’s oppression of the Afghan people and their actions that undermine the rule of law and good governance in Afghanistan.
“The Taliban continues to disparage the rights, freedoms and well-being of Afghan people, especially women and girls,” the statement said.
“The Australian government remains deeply concerned about the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan.
“Our thoughts are with those suffering under the oppression of the Taliban, as well as with the Afghan community in Australia.”
Australia has already imposed sanctions on 140 individuals and organizations under the United Nations Security Council’s Taliban framework.
The International Criminal Court also issued an arrest warrant for the Taliban’s chief judge, Abdul Hakim Haqqani, for alleged crimes against humanity for his persecution of girls, women and others who disapprove of the group’s gender policies.
The Taliban has deepened its attacks on the rights of women and girls since taking over Afghanistan since the fall of Kabul in 2021, according to Human Rights Watch.
The nonprofit reported that they were also increasingly restricting civic space, censoring, detaining activists, and placing LGBTQI Afghans in increasingly desperate situations.
Australia has provided more than $260 million in humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan since 2021, with a further $50 million allocated.
Under this measure, it created a new framework to impose sanctions on the three Taliban officials who were first on the list.
The federal government has similar sanctions on other countries such as Iran, Russia and North Korea.
