Muslim Majorities Protection: War, Occupation and Sanctions

Summary

War, rival governments, blockades and sanctions in Libya, Yemen and Afghanistan are squeezing ordinary Muslim civilians through frozen banks, blocked aid, unlawful detention and tightening controls on women.

What it argues

1. Sanctions versus recognition

   The US has designated the Taliban a terrorist group since 2002 and keeps sanctions in place to avoid legitimising its rule, per CRS. Aid groups and Al Jazeera's sources say the sanctions regime, not just the Taliban, drove Afghanistan's economic collapse after 2021. Policy aimed at isolating the Taliban has left ordinary Afghans bearing the cost.

2. Libya's rival authorities

   Human Rights Watch reports the Tripoli-based GNU and the eastern LAAF remain deadlocked, with UN-mediated talks in Tunis and Cairo failing to agree election laws. The LAAF obtained weapons, including intercepted Chinese drones, in violation of the UN arms embargo. Political division keeps Libya without elections or a unified government.

3. Yemen's war and outside powers

   Brookings reports Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Iran's intervention has fuelled Yemen's war, with the Houthis now the dominant force over the most populous areas. Human Rights Watch says Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping and Israel, and Israeli strikes on Hodeidah port, have drawn in US and UK forces. Regional rivalry has prolonged a war whose costs fall on Yemen's population.

4. Afghan banks frozen

   The US froze nearly $10bn of Afghan central bank reserves after the 2021 takeover, triggering a banking and liquidity crisis, Al Jazeera and CRS report. NRC says banks over-comply with sanctions exemptions, blocking even approved food and aid transfers. Sanctions exemptions exist on paper but banks' caution still blocks money reaching Afghans.

5. Libya's financial standoff

   A 2024 dispute over the Central Bank's leadership led the governor to flee and banking operations to be suspended, Human Rights Watch reports. Eastern authorities retaliated by shutting oil terminals, and the currency depreciated before a new governor was sworn in. A power struggle over the central bank directly deepened Libyans' economic hardship.

6. Yemen's parallel war economy

   Al Jazeera reports the Houthis collect roughly $2.5bn a year through taxes, levies and alleged Iranian oil sales while public salaries go unpaid. Earlier Human Rights Watch reports document a Saudi-led coalition blockade since 2015 that restricted food, fuel and medicine, and Houthi obstruction of aid shipments during COVID-19. Blockade and war financing on both sides have left Yemen's population paying the price.

7. Detention without due process

   Human Rights Watch reports Libya's military courts try civilians, impose death sentences including for speech, and hold detainees who have died in custody. In Yemen, Houthi and UAE-backed forces have forcibly disappeared UN staff, activists and journalists, with no independent monitoring since 2021. Both countries show arbitrary detention and little accountability for abuses.

8. Women's restrictions, civilian hardship

   Libya's new morality police and Yemen's Houthi authorities both require male-guardian permission for women's travel and impose dress rules; Taliban restrictions have pushed Afghan women from the workforce, per Human Rights Watch and NRC. Millions face food insecurity, disease, water shortages and halted schooling across Yemen, Afghanistan and Libya amid war and economic collapse. War and sanctions have tightened control over women and degraded basic civilian life together.