Gulf envoys stress women’s rights in meeting with Taliban FM

Ambassadors of the Gulf countries have underlined the need to guarantee the rights of Afghanistan women to work and learn when they meet with their Taliban partners in Qatar, Doha.

Meeting on Monday with Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Diplomat from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) emphasized the need for a national reconciliation plan that “respects basic freedom and rights, including women’s rights to work and education”, read a statement from the block.

Taliban tweeted photographs of the Minister of Foreign Affairs who smiled entering Monday’s meeting with representatives from Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. But the diplomats said there was no promise made by Afghan officials inside.

Taliban, who seized power in Afghanistan in August last year and overthrew the government supported by the West, immediately tried to disburse billions of dollars in assets abroad and get sanctions lifted when struggling with a terrible humanitarian crisis.

At the end of January, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said that more than half of all Afghans faced “extreme starvation levels” with “some families who sold their babies to buy food”.

But Western power has linked the release of humanitarian aid by increasing human rights, especially those of women.

While the Taliban promised a softer version of the hard rules that marked his first task from 1996 to 2001, the provincial authorities had imposed several restrictions on women, issued regular guidelines about how they had to live.

The new authorities have effectively forbid women from working in several sectors of the government and most of their women’s secondary schools remain closed. However, the Taliban has promised that girls from all ages will return to school in March.

The Taliban has also issued an order that women cannot travel between cities unless accompanied by relatives of close men. This group has posted posters in many stores throughout Kabul and in other cities that encourage women to wear a comprehensive burqa, although they have clarified that dressed code is not mandatory.

No country that recognizes the Taliban government and the latest talks coming only a few days after United States President Joe Biden said that $ 7 billion was held at US banks to be divided between funds to help Afghanistan and to provide compensation for attacks on September 11, 2001 in the United States .

The European government and international financial institutions also hold billions in assistance.

During the meeting on Monday, GCC diplomats also raised fears that “terrorist groups may be able to launch attacks from the Afghanistan region against other countries”.

They insisted that the country should not be exploited to trigger illegal drug trafficking.

Muttaqi, who will hold a major meeting with European countries and other international representatives on Wednesday, make comments after the meeting.