Trey Paul, FISM News
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is calling on the State Department to publicly acknowledge human rights violations in multiple countries where the freedom to choose what one believes is under attack in its most recent report.
The commission’s annual report was released Monday and highlighted religious oppression in China, Nigeria, Russia, India, and Afghanistan.
The group is once again asking Secretary of State Antony Blinken to “designate Afghanistan under the de facto rule of the Taliban as a ‘country of particular concern’ for engaging systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom.” FISM News reported that USCIRF unsuccessfully made the same recommendation in last year’s annual report.
“In 2022, religious freedom conditions in Afghanistan continued to deteriorate, as they have since the Taliban seized control of the country in August 2021,” this year’s USCIRF report reads. “In contrast to its pledges for change and inclusivity upon its seizure of power, the Taliban has since ruled Afghanistan in a deeply repressive and intolerant manner — essentially unchanged from its previous era in power from 1996 to 2001.”
Shabnam Nasimi, a former policy adviser for the Minister for Afghan Resettlement and Minister for Refugees recently shared a video on social media that draws attention to the demand for basic human rights. It shows female Afghan protesters, who are suppressed in the country, marching along the streets of Kabul chanting, “We will fight. We will die. But we will take back our rights.”
📢 'We will fight. We will die. But we will take back our rights.'
Despite Taliban's ruthless suppression of female protesters, the courageous women of Afghanistan took to the streets of Kabul today, demanding their basic human rights.pic.twitter.com/Z8XKvY8wRP
— Shabnam Nasimi (@NasimiShabnam) April 29, 2023
This year’s USCIRF report also notes the Taliban “actively targets, discriminates against, or outright denies the existence of many vulnerable religious minorities such as Christians—who the Taliban falsely insist do not exist in the country—as well as Ahmadiyya Muslims, Baha’is, and nonbelievers.”
The commission noted that “members of these groups are unable to express their faiths or beliefs openly because they face dire consequences, including death, if discovered by the Taliban or ISIS-K.” The Taliban “has been unable or unwilling to provide religious and ethnic minorities safety and security against radical Islamist violence,” the report reads, “particularly in the form of attacks” by ISIS-K and factions of the Taliban.
Todd Nettleton with the nonprofit The Voice of the Martyrs USA believes that religious freedom “was a more significant issue during the Trump administration than during the Biden administration.” He stated further that the president sets the tone based on how much priority they give the issue, implying that the Biden administration has dropped the ball on the international stage.
The USCIRF report supports that belief by noting that “in 2022, religious freedom conditions in Afghanistan continued to deteriorate, as they have since the Taliban seized control of the country in August 2021.”
That was a time marked by President Biden’s April 2021 announcement that there would be a full U.S. military withdrawal which resulted in hundreds of Americans being left behind along with thousands of Afghan allies.
A recommendation in this year’s report includes creating a P-2 designation for members of religious groups “at extreme risk of persecution” by the Taliban.
The report went on to highlight the results of inaction by the Biden administration.
“As of the end of 2022, and despite recognition from Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and some members of Congress regarding the horrendous conditions that religious minorities and other especially vulnerable populations face in Afghanistan, no specific legislation or policy initiative has yet emerged that would extend the crucial P-2 designation to those communities. Many such vulnerable families are reportedly among the thousands of displaced Afghans who by the end of 2022 still remained in limbo at the Emirates Humanitarian Centre in Abu Dhabi, awaiting U.S. processing in cooperation with United Arab Emirates authorities.
Last year, the religious persecution watchdog group “Open Doors” designated Afghanistan as the most dangerous country in the world for Christians. This year FISM News reported North Korea returned to the number one sport.
Nettleton encouraged all Christians to be praying for the persecuted church and to engage with elected officials on the issue.
“One of the ways to engage as you’re praying is to be sure that your government representatives know religious freedom is an issue you pay attention to,” Nettleton adds.