Hartzler, Stefanik, Cheney, Bice, McClain Express Concern for Future of Afghan Women

Press Release

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Representatives Vicky Hartzler (R-MO), Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Liz Cheney (R-WY), Stephanie Bice (R-OK), and Lisa McClain (R-MI), members of the House Committee on Armed Services, released the following statement expressing their concern for the future of Afghan women:

"The bright future for generations of Afghan women has now been extinguished by the Taliban's return to power. Female politicians, journalists, mothers, and school-aged girls now fear for their safety.

The Taliban has not changed -- they are still the brutish and repulsive terrorists they were twenty years ago. Last week, the Taliban murdered a pregnant policewoman in front of her family. Just a few months ago, the Taliban attacked a school in Kabul, killing at least 90 people, many of them young girls just leaving class. Last month, it was reported that the Taliban captured the district governor of Charkint, Salima Mazari. In the recent weeks since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, Taliban leaders have warned women to stay at home for their safety from Taliban militants, formed a government absent any female representation, barred women from entering schools and their places of work, and broken up peaceful demonstrations by brave Afghan women with gunfire, arrests, and beatings.

It is unacceptable and abhorrent that women who now seek to serve in public office or want to receive an education in Afghanistan will face either punishment or death. Under Taliban control, women are stripped of any rights and face forced "marriage' to terrorists who rape them -- there is a human toll to this withdrawal that will be felt for generations.

The legacy of our nation's first female Vice President will include the abandonment of Afghan women -- leaving them at the hands of a barbaric terrorist organization. The worst part is that this was all avoidable.

We have worked for 20 years to secure these basic human rights for Afghan women, and we cannot allow them to be stripped away once more. The Biden-Harris Administration must acknowledge the brutal human rights atrocities being committed by the Taliban against Afghan women. The Biden-Harris Administration must commit that no taxpayer money or foreign aid will go to the Taliban regime and make it clear that the United States will never give official recognition to the terrorist Taliban government in Afghanistan."

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