The U.S. government on Tuesday condemned the Taliban’s decision to veto the admission of Afghan women to public and private universities across the country.
The White House reacted to the announcement, calling the move «an indefensible decision by the Taliban,» according to a statement on its website.
«This deplorable decision is the latest effort by the Taliban leadership to impose additional restrictions on the women and girls of Afghanistan and prevent them from exercising their human rights and fundamental freedoms,» U.S. National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said in a statement.
According to the spokeswoman, the United States is currently in contact with its allies to take action and join forces for Afghan women and girls as well as to provide robust humanitarian assistance.
«As a result of this unacceptable posture of holding back half of Afghanistan’s population, the Taliban will be further alienated from the international community and denied the legitimacy they desire,» Watson added.
The U.S. State Department also condemned the Taliban’s decision to deny access to universities and keep schools closed to Afghan girls, a decision that will have «grave consequences.»
«The Taliban cannot expect to be a legitimate member of the international community until they respect the rights of all in Afghanistan,» the statement from Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said.
In his statement, Blinken highlights Afghanistan as the only country in the world that prohibits education for women and girls and warns that this will bring enormous difficulties for those affected in seeking employment to feed their families.
«Afghanistan is already losing more than $1 billion a year in contributions that women could be making to the economy. Now the Taliban have condemned the Afghan people to these losses and more. No country can prosper when half of its population is repressed,» she concluded.
UN: «DETRIMENTAL TO WOMEN AND AFGHANISTAN».
For its part, the United Nations (UN) has also condemned Tuesday the Taliban veto, indicating that it is a harmful measure for the Asian country.
«This is detrimental to women, but also to Afghanistan in general,» said the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), Roza Otunbayeva.
«Since the Taliban banned secondary education for girls in March this year, the Council has unanimously condemned this decision. Many young girls lost their entire academic year and now another harsh decision has been taken to ban university education,» Otunbayeva concluded.
Numerous international organizations have also spoken out following the announcement. Among them, the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called the decision «shameful». «The Taliban make it clear every day that they do not respect the fundamental rights of Afghans, especially women,» she added.
Similarly, the NGO Amnesty International (AI) has called on the Afghan authorities to «immediately» reverse this mandate and urged Kabul to «stop promoting its discriminatory agenda against women and girls.»
Taliban-installed authorities in Afghanistan on Tuesday banned «until further notice» the admission of women to public and private universities across the country, Afghan news agency Jaama Press reported.
The Ministry of Higher Education, headed by Minister Neda Mohamed Nadim, issued a brief statement, also consulted by the Tolo television network, in which it urged the suspension of the admission of women in higher educational institutions.
The Minister for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, Mohamad Khalid Hanafi, said Tuesday that the reopening of educational institutions, closed since the Taliban came to power, «depends to a large extent on the creation of a decent cultural and religious environment».
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
