Taliban Announces New Appointments For Several Government Offices

The European Union in a statement said that the Taliban's ban reinforces the consistent denial by the Taliban leadership of women’s rights, including their right to secondary and higher education, work, and freedom of movement.

According to Borrell, the Taliban’s decision places Afghan women in an increasingly vulnerable position and will have direct and life-threatening repercussions.

The EU foreign policy chief stressed that banning women from work disrupts the delivery of humanitarian aid, basic needs, and services to large parts of the entire Afghan population, including women, children, and men.

The EU foreign policy chief called on the Taliban to deliver on their promises and prove their ability to respect and protect human rights and provide basic services for the entire population of Afghanistan, in line with their earlier statements and promises.

Meanwhile, the German Foreign Ministry has also said that the decision is another violation of women's rights and endangers millions of citizens in Afghanistan.

The ministry added that the role of Afghan women is vital in providing humanitarian aid across the country.

The Taliban recently instructed the United Nations in Afghanistan that Afghan female staffers of the UN agencies in the country are not allowed to work in UN offices. The group prevented UN female employees from entering the United Nations offices in Nangarhar on Tuesday.

On August 15, 2021, Ashraf Ghani escaped from Afghanistan with several of his close aides. The US National Security Council spokesperson said that Ashraf Ghani had assured the United States that he would stay in Afghanistan.

Kirby spoke about Ashraf Ghani’s departure from Afghanistan after the White House released a report about the chaotic US withdrawal operation from Afghanistan.

Kirby said that at that time, no agency predicted that more than 300,000 trained and equipped Afghan National Security and Defense Forces would fail to fight for their country, especially after 20 years of American support.

In an interview with CNN last year, Ashraf Ghani had again justified his escape from Afghanistan and said that the defense of the country had become "impossible" due to the collapse of the security forces.

Mike Pompeo, the former US Secretary of State, said in his book that Ghani was a full-fledged fraud who wasted the lives of American soldiers to gain power. According to Pompeo, he was never ready to sacrifice for his country.

Family members of the former soldier said that he had served in the Shaheen Army Corps before the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban. However, later under the Taliban regime, he assumed occupation as a baker.

The Taliban has not yet commented on the arrest of this former soldier.

According to reports, contrary to the claim of "general amnesty", the Taliban have resorted to arbitrary arrests, torture, and execution of former soldiers.

In some cases, arresting and torturing civilians by the Taliban on charges of cooperation with the National Resistance Front (NRF) have also been reported.

Many former soldiers of Afghanistan have been forced to flee to neighbouring countries due to fear of retaliation by the Taliban.

Currently, it is estimated that 78,000 of such personnel remain in Afghanistan.

Nebenzya told Maryam Rahmati, Afghanistan International's correspondent at the United Nations, that the next meeting of the Security Council at the end of April will not discuss the "recognition of the Taliban".

Earlier on Thursday, Barbara Woodward, the United Kingdom’s representative in the United Nations hoped that an agreement will be reached on the negotiations with the Taliban regarding the conditions for the recognition of the group in the meeting of the UN Security Council.

The UN Security Council had met on Thursday evening for closed door discussions and its next meeting is scheduled to be held with the participation of the Special Envoys of various countries for Afghanistan.

"Let's have a conversation with this group about what they need to do to get recognised," Woodward said.

However, the representative of Russia in the UN said that the meeting of the Security Council will not be limited to discussing the status of women and the ban on their work in Afghanistan. According to him, various issues such as the fight against drugs and terrorism in Afghanistan will also be discussed in the meeting.

The Taliban has declared that wearing the new uniform is mandatory in public and private schools.

The Taliban has introduced these uniforms for female students even though girls' schools have been closed and millions of female students are deprived of education.

According to the new bill, the uniform of boys from the first to sixth grade will be blue, and the uniform of secondary and high school students will be "pistachio". Students of religious schools will wear steel grey and white uniform with white caps.

For girls, the Taliban has chosen a cream uniform with white scarves, and the uniform of secondary and higher girl students will be dark green.

In addition, girls above grade six will have to wear an additional steel-coloured hijab over their clothes and face masks.

In the Taliban bill, it has been stated that it is forbidden to wear pants and short dresses for female teachers and female students.