Afghanistan Taliban dissolves human rights commission describe it as “unnecessary” amidst financial crunch
In the face of a financial crisis, Taliban authorities in Afghanistan abolished five major ministries of the former USA-backed administration, including the country’s human rights commission, an official claimed.
This fiscal year, Afghanistan’s budget deficit was 44 billion Afghanis ($501 million), according to Taliban officials, who published their first annual national budget since taking power last August.
“These departments have been abolished because they were not judged necessary and were not included in the budget,” said Innamullah Samangani, the Taliban government’s deputy spokesperson.
The High Council for National Reconciliation (HCNR), the once powerful national security council, and the commission to oversee the implementation of the Afghan constitution were also dissolved.
Former Afghan president Abdullah Abdullah was the last head of the HCNR, which was tasked with negotiating a peace between former president Ashraf Ghani’s US-backed government and the Taliban at the time.
Foreign forces withdrew from Afghanistan in August 2021, 20 years after invading the country, causing the government to collapse and the Taliban to assume control.
The national budget, according to Samangani, is “based on objective facts” and is solely for departments that have been active and productive.
“If needed,” he said, the bodies could be reactivated in the future.
The Taliban promised the world they would be more moderate after assuming power in 2021. They have yet to let older girls to return to school, and they have implemented restrictions mandating women and girls to wear veils and to be accompanied by male relatives in public areas.
