Benafsha Yaqoobi, the prosecutor at the People’s Tribunal for Afghan women, said that the Taliban have completely dismantled the rights and support systems for persons with disabilities since returning to power.
Addressing the second day of the tribunal in Madrid, She described the group’s actions as a form of repression and crimes against humanity.
Yaqoobi said Afghanistan’s education, health and social service systems have collapsed, leaving people with disabilities without any institutional support. She cited a case from Khost province in which a mother said her disabled daughter was denied hospital admission because no one was allowed to touch her, an act Yaqoobi said amounted to denying basic medical care.
According to Yaqoobi, the Taliban’s Ministry of Martyrs and Disabled Affairs, once responsible for assisting people with disabilities, has been stripped of its public service role, effectively eliminating access to essential support mechanisms.
She stressed that the Taliban’s actions are neither rooted in Afghan tradition nor culture but reflect a systematic pattern of repression, coercion and social exclusion.
Yaqoobi urged international institutions to pay closer attention to the plight of persons with disabilities in Afghanistan, warning that global indifference enables the continuation of the Taliban’s structural crimes.
