Declaration of the Second Vienna Conference

After more than 20 months of Taliban rule, Afghanistan has become a wretched place for its inhabitants. In view of the despicable conditions in the county, we, the participants of the Second Vienna Conference, consider the plight of our people as urgently demanding our taking serious and practical steps. These steps are towards the more effective coordination of all the national political, social, and intellectual forces, civil society activists, and independent personalities who are dedicated to supporting the resistance, both inside and outside the country. These steps are important especially if we are to be able to reverse the current conditions and to bring peace and stability to Afghanistan.

We, the participants of this Vienna Conference, while admiring continued persistence of all forms of national resistance efforts, express our gratitude to the Austrian Institute for International Affairs for hosting this Conference in Vienna and advancing it into the Vienna Process. We have agreed to the following:

• Upholding the declarations made by the First Conference, we, the participants of the second round of the Vienna Conference, commit ourselves to the methodical integration of all the current opposition forces against the Taliban. We will also make every effort towards its expansion. To this end, we have formed a Working Group to help establish ways and means for strengthening cooperation and coordination among and between resistance entities and to develop a road map for reaching our common goals.

• While we consider negotiation and a peaceful political solution to be the best option, but given the non-changing policies and practices of the Taliban so far, we support all forms of resistance struggle against the Taliban, including armed resistance, and will strive to expand and strengthen them. We also ask that the international community recognize the legitimacy of all forms of resistance by the peoples of Afghanistan.

• Our top priority is to attempt to create a single national umbrella organization against the Taliban, cognizant of the diversity of political views, ideals and commitments among them.

• We believe that the systematic exclusion of women from the public sphere is a perfect manifestation of the Taliban policies and practices of gender apartheid. While admiring and firmly supporting the struggles by Afghans to secure the rights of Afghan girls and women, we find the indifference of the international community, especially the silence of the United Nations, to be disheartening and irresponsible.

• We also consider the statements of the Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations, Amina Mohammad, regarding the situation in Afghanistan reckless; and we consider the explanations offered to justify it utterly unsatisfactory.

• We request that the organizers of the Doha Meetings (May 1-2-2023), which is hosted by the UN, without the engagement of the real representatives of the peoples of Afghanistan, to refrain from any discussions that lead to the prolongation of the Taliban's rule which will only aggravate the already horrid situation in Afghanistan.

• Since the return of the Taliban to rule Afghanistan, many regional and international terrorist groups have moved to Afghanistan and have considerably enhanced their operational capabilities. Therefore, the risk of terrorism spreading in the region and beyond has become a serious reality. The Taliban claim that they are fighting against these terrorist groups is nothing but delusional.

• In addition, we strongly condemn the closing of schools and universities for girls in Afghanistan. We also reject the changes they have made in the schools' curricula for the purposes of achieving the Taliban's extremist and terrorist goals.

• We ask the United Nations and the international community to reprimand the Taliban, and to impose sanctions on those of their leaders committing systematic violations of human rights and women's rights.

• We ask The International Criminal Court ICC to identify and prosecute those Taliban leaders and commanders who have committed crimes against humanity and grossly violated human rights. We welcome the regional and global consensus on not extending official recognition to the Taliban regime and until the establishment of an elected government based on the free will of the peoples of Afghanistan. We request the Muslim countries, especially the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), to take a clear stance and undertake practical measures condemning the un-Islamic policies and practices of the Taliban regime.

• Since the illegitimate return of Taliban to power because of the 2020 Doha Agreement, resulting in the unprecedented tragedy-in-the making, we believes continued adherence to that Agreement is no longer to the best interest of the peoples Afghanistan.

We, the participants of the Second Vienna Conference, thank and ask Austria and other friendly countries to continue their support for providing venues for holding future meetings, and to offer practical support to the Working Group we have just formed so that they could pursue reaching our stated objectives.