On the Five-Year Anniversary of Afghanistan’s Fall to the Taliban, AfP Calls on International Community to End the Gender Apartheid and Assist Afghan Women and Girls
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 12, 2026
CONTACT
Nick Zuroski | nick@allianceforpeacebuilding.org
Washington DC, USA — On the five-year anniversary of Taliban take over of Afghanistan in 2021, the Alliance for Peacebuilding (AfP) calls on the U.S. Government and international community to urgently address the humanitarian crisis, promote justice and accountability for human rights violations committed by the Taliban, and protect Afghans residing in the U.S. Most critically, the international community must recognize gender apartheid and protect and promote the rights of women and girls as required by the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Agenda.
In a world marked by record-breaking levels of violent conflict, the crisis in Afghanistan consistently fails to receive the urgent attention it requires. Yet, in the five years since the 2021 withdrawal of U.S. and partner troops from Afghanistan and major cuts to foreign assistance programs, the Afghan people, particularly women and girls, have endured widespread suffering and atrocities. Nearly 22 million people are in need of humanitarian aid; 65 percent of the population lives in poverty; and 17.4 million require urgent food assistance.
Today, Afghanistan is officially recognized as the worst country to be a woman. The Taliban is systematically denying women and girls their basic rights and freedoms. It has issued 166 decrees targeting women and girls, including banning them from secondary and higher education; limiting employment opportunities; and restricting access to health systems. They are prohibited from speaking or showing their faces in public and leaving their homes unchaperoned by a male family member. This institutionalization of systemic oppression by the Taliban of women and girls amounts to gender apartheid.
While some countries are beginning to normalize relations with the Taliban, we call on the international community to apply diplomatic pressure to address the current crisis in Afghanistan, rather than legitimizing the Taliban. Member states must publicly advocate and support the inclusion of gender apartheid in the crimes against humanity treaty currently under negotiation at the United Nations. And the international community must promote justice and accountability for atrocities committed by the Taliban, including through support for documentation, as well as travel bans, sanctions, and all other levers of influence.
We strongly call for the international community to provide long-term and flexible funding and support for local and international women’s organizations working on issues related to Afghan women and girls. Donors should robustly fund empowerment programs, such as alternative and digital education and employment initiatives, and governments must demand the meaningful inclusion of Afghan women in all diplomatic processes related to the country’s future, as stipulated by the WPS Agenda. In the U.S., Congress must also expediently adopt the bipartisan Afghan Adjustment Act and Afghanistan TPS Act to protect Afghan nationals currently residing in the U.S. against deportation, many of which worked directly with international organizations and the U.S. military.
On the five-year anniversary of the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, we call on the international community to act immediately and decisively—as action is long past due, and Afghan women and girls cannot afford further delay.
The Alliance for Peacebuilding (AfP), named the “number one influencer and change agent” among peacebuilding institutions worldwide, is an award-winning nonprofit and nonpartisan network of almost 300 organizations working in 181 countries to prevent and reduce violent conflict and build sustainable peace. AfP cultivates a network to strengthen and advance the peacebuilding field, enabling peacebuilding organizations to achieve greater impact—tackling issues too large for any one organization to address alone.