International concerns have increased over human rights breaches and a grave security crisis in Afghanistan five years after the Taliban returned to power.
European states and international organisations believe the Taliban have struggled to address natural and humanitarian crises in the country, in part because Afghan women face severe restrictions.
"France reaffirms its unwavering solidarity with the Afghan people," the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "Five years on, Afghanistan continues to face a profound humanitarian, economic and security crisis – one that keeps worsening and threatens regional stability.
"The fundamental rights and freedoms of the population, particularly those of women and girls, are constantly being eroded. Women and girls are excluded from secondary and higher education. The Taliban are multiplying discriminatory laws and measures to completely erase them from the public sphere."
The Taliban have imposed sweeping restrictions on women and girls since 2021. About 2.5 million have been barred from attending secondary schools and universities, the UN culture agency said.
Half of Afghan women now leave their homes only once or twice a month, according to data released by UN Women on Wednesday. The Taliban say they respect women's rights in accordance with their interpretation of Sharia.
“Women and girls have been systematically erased from public life. Schools. Universities. Jobs. Parks. Public floggings and stoning have returned,” Hannah Neumann, a member of the European Parliament, said in a post on X.
She accused her native Germany and the EU of failing Afghans. “Nobody can claim we do not know what this regime is. And yet, five years later, Germany and Europe are failing Afghans again,” she said.
On Friday, 56 UN member states, in a joint statement read by Denmark, called on the Taliban to immediately repeal discriminatory policies and decrees, particularly those directed at women and girls.
The states warned that repression, terrorism and restrictions on humanitarian operations threatened Afghanistan’s stability. They also said that Afghan citizens were paying a heavy price for issues that had lasting consequences for the security and stability of the wider region.
It comes as the UN appealed to donors on Friday to refrain from cutting funding for women's programmes in Afghanistan, saying that would only add to the suffering in a country where the conditions for women are already the worst in the world.
Susan Ferguson, UN Women's special representative in Afghanistan, said the Taliban had imposed more than 100 decrees restricting women's rights since their return to power. The group's actions have affected nearly every aspect of women's daily lives, from education and employment, to health care and access to justice.
Taliban's international ties
Five years on, Russia is the only country to have formally recognised the Taliban government.
Relations between the group and neighbouring Pakistan are tense, as Islamabad accuses the Taliban of supporting Pakistani insurgents.
Many former embassies in Kabul remain empty. The US mission was the backdrop of Taliban celebrations on Saturday.
