Taliban broke promises on rights: Outgoing Afghan envoy to UN

Andisha says ‘women’s rights are disappearing from the landscape’ and accuses the group of ‘widespread atrocities’.

The Taliban has already broken its promises to safeguard women and protect human rights, and the international community must hold it to account, says the outgoing government’s ambassador to the United Nations. “The Taliban have vowed to respect women’s rights but women’s rights are disappearing from the landscape,” Nasir Ahmad Andisha, who remains accredited at UN bodies despite the collapse of the government he represents, told the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday. He accused the Taliban of “widespread atrocities” in the Panjshir Valley, the last part of the country to hold out against the group, and said it was conducting targeted killings and extrajudicial executions, including of young boys.