Whereas, upon returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban have become one of the world’s most repressive organizations, depriving the Afghans of their enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms and rolling back the rights of women, girls, and members of vulnerable communities; Whereas the Taliban have placed severe restrictions on women and girls, limiting their travel, access to education, and livelihoods; Whereas, in March 2022, Emir Hibatullah Akhundzada canceled plans to reopen girls’ secondary schools, and in December 2022, the Taliban-run Ministry of Higher Education suspended women from attending public and private universities, and in January 2023, barred them from private universities altogether; Whereas the Taliban ordered all local and international nongovernmental organizations to dismiss their female employees or risk revocation of their licenses, with some exceptions for women working in health and education; Whereas the Taliban have used unjust force against Afghans participating in demonstrations in support of women and girls, including through the use of water cannons and beatings, and protesters have faced other serious physical abuses; Whereas the Taliban continue to engage in gross human rights abuses including unjust detentions, disappearances and abductions, physical abuses, summary killings, collective punishment, and profiling and surveilling members of ethnic, tribal, and religious groups perceived as holding anti-Taliban views; Whereas the Taliban have placed severe restrictions on freedoms of expression, including for members of the press, peaceful assembly, and association, and have targeted members of the media, human rights defenders, and civil society activists through harassment, interference, surveillance, intimidation, detention, and violence