Over the past six months, the Taliban has targeted and terrorized the women and girls of Afghanistan, swiftly reimposing draconian measures that limit their freedom and undermine their safety. In the past few weeks alone, numerous reports have emerged of women human rights defenders being detained, tortured, and killed for their activism. Despite public rhetoric claiming support for Afghan women and girls, the world has largely watched as the Taliban dramatically rolled back their rights by decades.

Earlier this week, Norway convened Taliban leaders, diplomats primarily from Western countries, and other delegates for three days of talks on humanitarian aid and human rights in Afghanistan. However, Norway evidently failed to establish any preconditions for the Taliban’s participation, such as ceasing the political detention of Afghan women activists or guaranteeing the free exercise of women’s and girls’ human rights and their access to critical humanitarian assistance.