US Votes Against Resolution on Taliban's Treatment of Women

The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution Monday over US objections calling on Afghanistan's Taliban rulers to reverse their worsening oppression of women and girls and eliminate all terrorist organizations. The 11-page resolution also emphasizes "the importance of creating opportunities for economic recovery, development and prosperity in Afghanistan," the AP reports, and urges donors to address the country's dire humanitarian and economic crisis. The resolution is not legally binding but is seen as a reflection of world opinion. The vote was 116 in favor, with two—the US and Israel—opposed and 12 abstentions, including Russia, China, India, and Iran.

Since returning to power in Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban have imposed harsh measures, barring women from public places and girls from attending school beyond the sixth grade. Last week, Russia became the first country to formally recognize the Taliban's government. UN Ambassador Antje Leendertse of Germany, whose country sponsored the resolution, told the assembly before the vote that her country and many others remain gravely concerned about the dire human rights situation in Afghanistan, especially the Taliban's "near-total erasure" of the rights of women and girls. The core message of the resolution, she said, is to tell Afghan mothers holding sick and underfed children or mourning victims of terrorist attacks, as well as the millions of Afghan women and girls locked up at home, that they have not been forgotten.

US minister-counselor Jonathan Shrier was critical of the resolution, which he said rewards "the Taliban's failure with more engagement and more resources." The Trump administration doubts they will ever pursue policies "in accordance with the expectations of the international community," he said. "For decades we shouldered the burden of supporting the Afghan people with time, money and, most important, American lives," Shrier said. "It is the time for the Taliban to step up. The United States will no longer enable their heinous behavior."