The US special envoy for Afghanistan highlighted international opposition to the Taliban’s treatment of women and girls.
The US special envoy for Afghanistan met the Taliban’s acting foreign minister in the Qatari capital Doha and highlighted international opposition to the group’s expansion of restrictive measures against women and girls. .
US Special Representative for Afghanistan Thomas West wrote on Twitter Saturday after meeting with Amir Khan Mutaqi.
Since returning to power last August, the Taliban have imposed a series of restrictions on civil society, many of which focus on curbing the rights of women and girls, reminiscent of the past. Their last rule was in the 1990s.
Girls’ schools have yet to open, more than eight months since the Taliban took power. The group claims to want girls to go back to school but justifies the delay for reasons ranging from infrastructure to lack of resources due to the economic crisis.
When the Taliban came to power in August, the armed group promised to uphold the rights of girls and women. But its actions since then have worried the international community.
Earlier this month, Afghanistan’s supreme leader ordered women to cover their faces in public, including their facesideally with the traditional burqa.
1/4 with @SE_AfghanWGH, spoke with Amir Khan Mutaqi of the Taliban this morning. Communicate nationally consistent opposition to ongoing and widening restrictions on the rights and roles of women and girls in society.
– United States Special Representative Thomas West (@US4AfghanPeace) May 21, 2022
Over the past few months, Taliban leaders, especially from the Ministry of Virtue Propaganda and Deputy Ministerial Prevention, have announced many new restrictions, even as criticism and international pressure mounts against them. surname.
In December, the ministry replaced the Afghan Women’s Ministry, impose restrictions on women from a distance of more than 72km (45 miles) without a male relative.
This restriction has been further extended to include overseas travel, and a number of female solo travelers have been reported. stop from flights to planes. Similar bans are also possible introduce At some healthcare centers around the country, women are forbidden to access health care without a mahram (male chaperone).
In January, a group of 36 United Nations human rights experts said that Taliban leaders in Afghanistan are institutionalizing large-scale and systematic gender-based violence and discrimination against women and girls.
A surprise reversal in March, in which the group closed all girls’ high schools the morning they were due to open, drew international outrage and prompted the US to cancel meetings. planned to defuse the country’s financial crisis.
A notice from the Ministry of Education said on March 23 that all-girls schools will be closed until a plan is drawn up in accordance with Islamic law and Afghan culture, according to the Bakhtar News Agency, a government news agency.
Economic stability
West also said that the two discussed economic stability in Afghanistan and concerns about attacks on civilians.
The country is on the brink of economic disaster after the West froze Afghan assets abroad and cut off aid.
“Dialogue will continue to support the people of Afghanistan and our national interests,” West, the US special envoy, said in his post.
The country is reeling from a humanitarian crisis with more than half of the population population facing famine. The Taliban have struggled to revive an aid-dependent economy, which is in free fall due to sanctions and exclusion from international financial institutions.
In December, the Biden administration grant what it calls “broad authorization” to ensure that the United Nations, US government agencies and aid groups can deliver humanitarian relief to Afghanistan without violating sanctions against Taliban.
