DOHA: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has criticized the Taliban government’s “unprecedented” restrictions on Afghan women’s rights, highlighting international concerns over stability in the crisis-stricken country.
Guterres held a two-day meeting with leading powers concerned about events in Afghanistan and called for new ways to pressure the Taliban authorities after it banned women in Afghanistan from working for UN agencies and NGOs.
He did not indicate whether a current review of UN aid operations would call for a withdrawal because of the ban on women working for aid agencies.
Guterres called for engagement to be more effective to achieve objectives, stating that “to achieve our objectives, we cannot disengage, and many members in the meeting called for political engagement to be more effective.”
UN review of its Afghanistan mission
The UN review of its Afghanistan aid mission is to be completed by Friday, and the world body says it faces the “challenging choice” of whether to leave Afghanistan, where millions depend on food aid.
The two-day meeting involved envoys from the United States (US), Russia, China, and 20 other countries and organizations, including major European donors and neighbors such as Pakistan. They discussed fears over terrorism and drug trafficking in the South Asian nation.
The Taliban government has strongly rejected criticism of the restrictions on women, calling them Afghanistan’s “internal social issue.” It has also complained regarding its exclusion from the Doha talks.
The Taliban’s ban on Afghan women working for UN agencies and NGOs, along with their exclusion from most government jobs and secondary and university education, has sparked global condemnation.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern over the ban, calling it “unprecedented” and a violation of Afghanistan’s international obligations. This issue was discussed at a two-day meeting in Doha, attended by envoys from the US, Russia, China, and 20 other countries and organizations. The meeting also addressed concerns over terrorism, drug trafficking, and stability in Afghanistan.
No country has established formal relations with the Taliban government since it came to power in August 2021, and there were no indications of any countries ready to form any kind of ties at the meeting.
The international community is concerned about the Taliban’s disregard for human rights, particularly women’s rights, and the potentially destabilizing impact it could have on the country and the region.
