KABUL: Afghan women on Wednesday spoke up against their exclusion from an upcoming conference of the United Nations (UN) in Doha, saying their absence will not improve the worsening situation for females in Afghanistan.
Since the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan in August 2021, Afghan women have faced increasing restrictions including the right to education.
The UN has reportedly agreed to the Taliban’s demands of barring Afghan women from taking part in the Doha meeting on Afghanistan that will begin on June 30.
Mahboba Akbar, a former teacher and education activist in Kandahar told Arab media that such important meetings cannot have fruitful results without the participation of women.
She added that it looks like education and the future of Afghan women and girls don’t matter for the people attending the meeting.
The development appears to be a part of the UN’s efforts to get the Taliban to attend the third Doha conference, which was set up to discuss the global community’s approach to Afghanistan.
The Taliban were not invited to the first meeting, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said they set unacceptable conditions to attend the second meeting held in February. This included excluding Afghan civil society members from the discussion and treating the Taliban as Afghanistan’s legitimate rulers.
No country has so far recognized the Taliban as Afghanistan’s government. The UN says the recognition is almost impossible while bans on female employment and education remain in place.
The Foreign Ministry in Kabul on Tuesday, confirmed their participation at the Doha meeting, saying that chief Taliban government spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, will head the delegation.
Zainab Muwahid, an Islamic scholar who attended the US-Taliban peace talks in Qatar in 2019 said in such political agreements Afghan women bear the burden.
“Afghan women bear the biggest sacrifices in these political deals,” she told Arab media. She strongly believed the absence of women will hurt the results of the meeting.
The numerous restrictions introduced by the Taliban have been seen as some of the world’s most gross human rights violations. Human Rights Watch on Tuesday highlighted how the abuses deepen daily.
The HRW said a growing number of Afghan women activists in the country and abroad have called on world states to boycott the upcoming Doha summit.
Samira Rahimi, a schoolteacher in Kabul, said often women’s voices are ignored in important meetings. She that Afghan women had hope for the global community to continue supporting Afghan women and their rights.
