Top Taliban officials have been sanctioned and banned from traveling to Australia as the federal government steps up pressure on the militant group.
Australia has ordered the measures to three Taliban ministers and Afghanistan’s chief justice, meaning Australians will be banned from Saturday from supplying them with weapons or similar services, and from using or dealing with their assets and funds.
“The Taliban continues to show disregard for the rights, freedoms and well-being of the Afghan people, especially women and girls,” she said in a statement.
“The Australian Government remains deeply concerned about the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan.
“Our thoughts are with those suffering under the Taliban’s oppression, as well as the Afghan community in Australia.”
Australia has already imposed sanctions on 140 individuals and entities under the United Nations Security Council’s Taliban framework.
Since the fall of Kabul in 2021, the Taliban have deepened their assault on the rights of women and girls since taking over Afghanistan, Human Rights Watch said.
They have also increasingly restricted social space, employed censorship, detained activists and placed LGBTQI Afghans in increasingly desperate situations, the nonprofit reported.
Australia has provided more than $260 million in humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan since 2021 and a further $50 million has been allocated.
A new framework was established to impose sanctions on the three Taliban officials, who were the first to be listed under this measure.
The federal government has imposed similar sanctions on other countries, including Iran, Russia and North Korea.
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