PNN – UN political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo said on Monday that representatives of the international community raised their concerns about restrictions on women and girls in Afghanistan in a meeting with Taliban officials in Qatar.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network from “Reuters”, The two-day meeting led by the United Nations was the first meeting of its kind with the participation of the Taliban, who came to power after the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan in 2021, although the Taliban’s rule is not recognized internationally.
“During all the discussions there was deep international concern about serious and persistent restrictions on women and girls,” Di Carlo said in a statement.
He added: “If Afghanistan is deprived of the participation and capacity of half of its population, it cannot return to the international arena or fully develop economically and socially.”
Since the return of the Taliban to power, most girls have been denied high school education and women have been denied university education.
The Taliban have also banned most Afghan female employees from working at aid agencies, closed beauty salons, and women cannot go to parks or travel without a male guardian.
The Taliban has claimed that it respects women’s rights according to Islamic laws.
DiCarlo said that Sunday and Monday’s interaction with Taliban officials does not mean recognizing their government, but is part of the broader efforts of the international community to solve the problems faced by millions of Afghans.
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Monday’s talks focused specifically on the private sector and the issue of drug production in Afghanistan.
DiCarlo said: In these meetings, there was a broad agreement on the need to draw a clear path to solve these issues.
Human rights groups criticized the United Nations for the absence of Afghan women at the negotiating table with the Taliban in Doha.
Di Carlo said he was aware of the criticism, but organizers faced a tough choice because they had to hold a direct meeting with Afghanistan’s “interim” rulers and international representatives.
He said: “Unfortunately, the temporary authorities will not sit at the negotiation table with the civil society of Afghanistan in this format.”
Kabul has considered the issue of women and what has been called human rights issues by other countries as an internal issue and has convinced the host to drop this title from the meeting’s plans.
Meanwhile, the spokesperson of the caretaker government of the Taliban in Afghanistan, referring to the participation of some countries in the Doha meeting, praised the positions of Iran, Russia, China, Pakistan and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in this meeting.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesman of the caretaker government of the Taliban in Afghanistan, referring to the Doha meeting, wrote in his X: Today’s meeting continues very well, most of the countries were in favor of supporting Afghanistan’s private sector, the pledge was made to remove banking and economic restrictions.
He added: The positions of Russia, China, Iran, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, America and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation were commendable.
Mujahid, the spokesman and head of the Taliban delegation, said in a speech at the opening of the third Doha meeting: Afghanistan has seriously fought against any kind of cultivation, production, supply and trafficking of drugs and is still fighting, but after this, providing alternative livelihood for Afghan farmers is a necessity and a common responsibility that must be done so that Afghanistan can solve this problem.