The United Kingdom has been urged to take a leading role in confronting the Taliban regime's "gender apartheid" in Afghanistan, as the group marked five years in power with a military parade and sporting events from which women were excluded.
Baroness Helena Kennedy, a women's rights campaigner and Labour peer, stated that Britain should exert pressure on allies, including India and Qatar, which maintain communication channels with the Taliban. She suggested that this diplomatic leverage could help drive a wedge between more progressive factions and hardliners within the regime. "What is happening is gender apartheid. The extremes against women are extraordinary," Kennedy told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
The Taliban's commemoration in Kabul featured a military parade showcasing Humvee trucks previously used by the US-led coalition. The regime enforces an extreme interpretation of Islamic law, largely excluding women from public life and most workplaces. Girls are typically denied access to mainstream education beyond age 12, although religious schools remain an option.
Diplomats have noted that promises made by the Taliban regarding women's rights following their return to power in 2021 have not been upheld, with an extremist faction now embedded within the government. Western countries, including the UK, have closed their embassies in Kabul, and Afghan assets remain frozen in European banks.
Concerns are growing that the isolation of the Taliban is not yielding the desired changes, with an estimated 22 million Afghans, half the population, dependent on foreign aid. Influence outside of Western nations is now largely wielded by countries such as India, China, Russia, Qatar, and the UAE.
A Western diplomat described the closure of the US Agency for International Development's operations in Afghanistan as a significant "diplomatic gap," highlighting the diminished international focus on the country despite extensive Western involvement from 2001 to 2021. "It's extraordinary given the scale of Western effort from 2001 to 2021 how ignored Afghanistan is now," the diplomat told the BBC.