The White House on Tuesday condemned the Taliban’s «unacceptable» decision to veto the admission of Afghan women to public and private universities across the country.
«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 said.
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.
The Taliban-installed authorities in Afghanistan on Tuesday banned «until further notice» the admission of women to public and private universities across the country, the 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».
Numerous international organizations have also spoken out following the announcement. Among them, the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW), which has called the decision «shameful». «The Taliban make it clear every day that they do not respect the fundamental rights of Afghans, especially women,» it 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.»
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
