Australia is demanding women in Afghanistan be granted more freedoms as the foreign minister expresses concern at the "attempted erasure of women from public life" under Taliban rule.
Penny Wong expressed solidarity with the women after meeting with some to hear their concerns on the sidelines of a United Nations summit in New York.
"I made the point in that discussion that there is no peace in Afghanistan without the full participation of Afghan women," she told reporters in New York on Tuesday (AEST).
"I thank those women from Afghanistan and beyond who took the opportunity to share their stories with us ... their courage was deeply inspiring."
The Taliban has outlawed women speaking in public and they can be punished if they are heard singing or reading out loud from within their home.
It was met with horror from international human rights groups and condemnation from the UN.
A women's forum on Afghanistan in New York heard the nation couldn't be built on the exclusion of half the population.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the international body wouldn't allow the normalisation of gender-based violence as he branded the Taliban's regime in line with "some of the most egregious systems of oppression in recent history".
The Taliban took over the Middle Eastern nation after storming the capital of Kabul in 2021 and has since cracked down on women's freedom.
Lifeline 13 11 14
beyondblue 1300 22 4636
