In 2025, multilateralism, democracy, and human rights—the core ideals of a rules-based international system—are in their most precarious position since the establishment of the post-World War II order. Countries, particularly those run by populist strongmen, increasingly prioritize bilateral agreements and immediate interests over long-term multilateral diplomacy and enduring values. The election and re-election of President Donald Trump in the United States has further exacerbated this trend, emboldening autocracies across the globe while diminishing the universality of rights.
It is against this increasingly grim backdrop that Afghanistan’s civil society and democratic forces have established a movement to challenge the Taliban’s institutionalized regime of oppression. Even in today’s challenging climate, these activists continue their resistance against the Taliban’s oppressive rule, navigating an unfavorable international environment and a severely restricted civic space inside Afghanistan. Their work not only keeps Afghanistan in the global spotlight but also makes tangible progress in the broader fight for rights protection and the promotion of accountability.
The Age of Impunity
After World War II, international law became the most important safeguard mechanism for nations in constitutional crisis and for citizens living without domestic human rights protection. Now, the optimism that once underpinned a global rights-based order has given way to realpolitik and a transactional approach to international relations.
Afghanistan was an early victim of this shift when, in 2018, the first Trump administration and a few European States entered into secretive direct talks with the Taliban. The murky U.S.-Taliban Doha Deal forged in February 2020 offered unprecedented concessions and legitimacy to an internationally sanctioned violent extremist group, undermining Afghanistan’s nascent constitutional democracy. The disastrous withdrawal of U.S. troops in 2021, under the Biden administration, guaranteed the Taliban’s military takeover of Afghanistan. Contrary to their promises, the group established a theocratic totalitarian regime of the so-called Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The Taliban government swiftly reversed hard-earned gains in rights and freedoms—especially for women and girls. It suppressed any form of dissent, and it killed or imprisoned any opposition forces, as well as members of the former security forces.
The erosion of international institutions has also enabled the Taliban to abuse human rights and breach international law, tolerated under the guise of “pragmatist” engagement with the group. When the Taliban first returned to power in 2021, European countries halted their deportations of migrants to Afghanistan. But now, with anti-immigrant rhetoric on the rise in Europe, Germany has resumed deportations in breach of the principle of non-refoulement, which requires governments not to return individuals to countries where they face a serious risk to their life. Germany has even allowed Taliban officials to enter the country to facilitate the removal of Afghan migrants. The German government’s decision to grant the Taliban access to Afghanistan’s embassy in Berlin and the consulate in Bonn, ostensibly to provide consular services and expedite deportations of failed asylum seekers, poses a grave risk to those opposed to Taliban rule. That move not only narrows the space available for exiled democratic forces but also endangers the lives of hundreds of thousands whose personal data are stored in these missions and potentially emboldens right-wing leaning governments elsewhere to make similar diplomatic overtures to the Taliban for political gain. Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Greece have already endorsed Germany’s arrangement. This trend is a serious threat not only to human rights but also to governance and accountability. Meanwhile, the Taliban has viewed these deportations as an opportunity to gain a diplomatic foothold in Europe.
The Russian government’s official recognition of the Taliban on July 3 further complicates the international community’s stance. Russia’s decision was likely motivated by a desire to assert its position on the global agenda, especially as the West recognized the new regime in Syria, which unseated Bashar al-Assad, a longstanding Russian ally. Russia’s position could affect matters before the United Nations Security Council, including decisions related to the U.N. Mission in Afghanistan. It is a particularly pivotal moment as the term of the Secretary-General’s Special Representative (SRSG) is ending this year, and finding another consensus candidate may run into a deadlock. There have already been signs of discord. On July 7, during a debate in the U.N. General Assembly, the United States, for the first time, voted against a resolution on Afghanistan that would define the future trajectory of support to Afghanistan, with the nature of engagement with the Taliban being the contentious matter.
The Russian move also complicates the use of recognition as one of the international community’s last bargaining chips with the Taliban. Russia’s decision could encourage other authoritarian governments in the region, such as Uzbekistan, Iran, and Kazakhstan, to follow suit.
A Resistance Making Tangible Progress
Amidst these serious challenges, Afghanistan also witnessed moments of progress, driven above all by the determination and resilience of its civil and democratic forces. Afghanistan’s nascent civil society, which was forced to go underground or convene abroad after the Taliban’s takeover in 2021, has refused to give up on the struggle. Afghanistan’s women’s movement, in particular, has demonstrated incredible resilience by “confronting gun-carrying Taliban on the streets, forming networked movements across the country, advocating from seats at the Human Rights Council and U.N. Security Council, and establishing alternative education organizations” to empower the country’s female population. The vocal and powerful “End Gender Apartheid” campaign, which urges U.N. member States to codify the crime of gender apartheid in the Draft Crimes against Humanity Convention, is yet another example. Over the past four horrifying years of Taliban domination, these groups have been trying to shift the narrative from victimhood to one of agency and strength.
Despite trivial support from abroad, and immense obstacles and exclusion, even by the U.N., Afghanistan’s civil and democratic forces have witnessed significant achievements. Chief among those is the issuance of arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Taliban leaders in July. The Court found that there are reasonable grounds to believe that two senior Taliban leaders, Haibatullah Akhundzada and Abdul Hakim Haqqani, have committed the crime against humanity of persecution on gender and political grounds. This unprecedented step not only exposed the Taliban’s ongoing gross human rights abuses but also demonstrated that the Court and its member States are willing to take concrete action against them. By placing Taliban leaders on the ICC’s prosecution list, the Court has made it far more difficult for the group to gain international recognition. This setback for the Taliban also created pressure within the group to reform and even seek leadership change.
Another significant development came on June 24, as the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the body in charge of monitoring the translation of the provisions of the Convention into concrete actions, broke new ground with the first treaty body review of Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover. Although treaty bodies are not courts, their expert assessments of State compliance influence national and international discourse and can be persuasive in legal contexts.
This review was presented by the Permanent Mission of Afghanistan to the U.N. Office in Geneva, a body that stands as the formally recognized representative of Afghanistan, working in the interest of its people, not the Taliban regime. (One of us, Ambassador Andisha, continues to hold the title of Permanent Representative of Afghanistan to the U.N. in Geneva.) The CEDAW Committee had invited the Taliban in 2022 to provide a mid-term report on the implementation of the convention. But the regime failed to offer any meaningful contribution other than a mediocre report that stressed the achievements of the regime and claimed the full enjoyment of rights by women within their interpretation of Sharia law. At the request of the Committee, the Permanent Mission prepared the 4th national implementation report, in collaboration with civil society, human rights experts, former officials, women leaders, and ex-members of parliament, which painted a stark picture of the regression of women’s rights since the Taliban takeover.
Unlike the 3rd periodic report presented a year before the Taliban takeover (February 2020) that documented gradual women’s rights progress in Afghanistan under a democratic government, this review highlighted how two decades of progress were undone by the Taliban’s extremist ideas and authoritarian rule in less than four years—a warning that what happened in Afghanistan could occur elsewhere too, as asserted by prominent human rights experts such as Richard Bennett and Karima Bennoune.
Nevertheless, the result of this extraordinary review has provided a credible and authoritative account of institutional regression in violation of CEDAW articles, findings which are helpful for justice and accountability in front of other mechanisms such as the ICC and the International Court of Justice. The review could also have a possible ripple effect of encouraging other treaty bodies to address the human rights situation in Afghanistan.
Moreover, the presentation of the CEDAW report, an international treaty obligation of sovereign States by the Permanent Mission of Afghanistan and the democratic and civil society members, serves as a signal to the Taliban: refusal to acknowledge and fulfill Afghanistan’s international obligations, including its human rights obligations, makes the Taliban regime even less worthy of international legitimacy. The fact that exiled diplomatic missions and democratic forces can still represent Afghanistan on the world stage underlines that the Taliban are not the only stakeholders within the internationally recognized state of Afghanistan.
International Accountability and Hope
As 2025 progresses, there is still hope for even more progress. The upcoming 60th Session of the U.N. Human Rights Council (HRC) in September in Geneva presents an opportunity to establish a long-overdue independent investigative mechanism that is commensurate with the gravity of the situation in Afghanistan. Such a body would be capable of building cases and establishing individual criminal responsibility. The European Union must heed the continued calls from Afghan and international human rights organizations and propose this initiative, and the HRC members should support it with consensus. Anything short of that risks perpetuating the cycle of impunity and should be considered complicity.
The potential U.S. Senate confirmation of Mike Waltz, an anti-Taliban Afghanistan war veteran, as the U.S. permanent representative to the U.N., combined with Russia’s official recognition of the Taliban’s Islamic Emirate, could mean the upcoming U.N. Security Council and General Assembly meetings will see more substantial debates over Afghanistan’s future.
Afghanistan’s civil and democratic forces in exile prove that resistance is not only possible but impactful, even in a world seemingly indifferent to their cause, even when the civic space inside the country is closed and international space is narrowing. They are using every existing opportunity inside Afghanistan to raise their voice, even as the already meager international funding for democracy and human rights is diverted or cut. Through the organization of regular protests, active participation in every U.N. and international event on Afghanistan, and writing and research, Afghanistan’s democratic forces are countering the creeping normalization of human rights breaches and misogyny.
Through human rights advocacy, documentation of atrocities, and representing democratic aspirations of the silenced majority under the Taliban’s repressive rule at international and regional forums, the ongoing struggle of Afghanistan’s exiled democratic movement is a vital bulwark against the tide of authoritarianism and extremist jihadi forces.
Their progress, made in the face of adversity, should be an inspiration for all those fighting for rights and dignity around the globe. Today, it is the women and girls of Afghanistan who face systemic discrimination and deprivation; tomorrow, it could be somewhere else. Afghanistan’s civil society and democratic forces have proven their resilience; they need not sympathy but action, courage, and partnership.
