Official Resolution of the “Purple Saturdays Movement” On the Fourth Anniversary of the Fall of Kabul and Protests in Kabul, Takhar, and Herat

Official Resolution of the “Purple Saturdays Movement”
On the Fourth Anniversary of the Fall of Kabul and Protests in Kabul, Takhar, and Herat

August 15 marks not only a day of deep national mourning for the people of Afghanistan but also the fourth consecutive year of the international community’s failure to uphold its professed commitments to gender justice, human rights, and democratic principles. This anniversary highlights the profound gap between political rhetoric and concrete action.

Over the past four years, the United Nations, influential states, and the broader international community have faced a critical test: to take a firm, principled, and consistent stand against the Taliban’s widespread and systematic violations of human rights, particularly against women. Instead, prevailing policies of political engagement have, in effect, normalized the Taliban’s abuses, legitimized their de facto authority, and facilitated impunity for their crimes. This constitutes a failure of international responsibility under human rights law, for which accountability is urgently required.

Since August 2021, the Taliban, adhering to an extremist and exclusionary ideology have committed crimes against humanity, including:

Arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances of women from public spaces, workplaces, and private homes.

Torture, sexual violence, and rape of female detainees in detention facilities.

Systematic denial of the right to peaceful assembly and protest.

Threats of arrest, torture, and sexual abuse against women who engage in public demonstrations.

These acts represent not only a campaign of gender persecution, amounting to gender apartheid, but also broader patterns of ethnic, linguistic, and religious discrimination. The Taliban have established an illegitimate, male-only, ethnically exclusive regime, carried out forced displacement, persecuted ethnic and religious minorities, imposed linguistic apartheid against Persian (Dari), and committed war crimes by killing or disappearing former government officials and members of the security forces.

Furthermore, the Taliban have exploited Afghanistan’s national resources solely to consolidate power, deepen repression, and suppress civic freedoms, while engaging in corrupt practices and surrendering Afghanistan’s sovereignty to foreign spheres of influence.

We therefore demand:

1. Immediate recognition and protection of Afghanistan women’s right to protest without fear of arrest, torture, or sexual violence.

2. Urgent, independent, and unhindered international monitoring of all Taliban detention facilities, particularly those operated by their intelligence apparatus.

3. Public disclosure of the identities and conditions of all women arbitrarily detained by the Taliban.

4. Establishment of a legitimate, democratic, and decentralized government through free and fair elections, ensuring equal participation of women, linguistic and ethnic diversity, and full adherence to international human rights standards.

We call upon:

The United Nations and Member States to abandon policies of normalization and adopt a rights-based, accountability-driven approach toward the Taliban.

International human rights bodies to recognize and address the Taliban’s treatment of women as gender apartheid under international law.

The people of Afghanistan to unite in peaceful, nationwide resistance against the Taliban’s unlawful and inhumane rule.

The Purple Saturdays Movement reaffirms its commitment to the principles of Right, Justice, and Freedom and will continue to mobilize nationally and internationally until Afghanistan is liberated from the current crisis and restored to a path of equality, justice, and lasting peace.

#Right_Justice_Freedom

Date: 15 August 2025