No Justification for Taliban's Anti-Women Policies, Says UK Envoy to UN

Addressing the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) defence ministers’ meeting in New Delhi on Friday, the Russian defence minister emphasised that international terrorist groups including Al Qaeda, ISIS, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), and East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) have increased their influence in the region.

The Russian defence minister warned at the SCO meeting that considering the current situation in Central Asia, it is necessary to adopt new security measures for the region.

According to him, extremists who have settled in Afghanistan, pose main security threats to Central Asia.

Emphasising that Afghanistan is a key issue in the agenda of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, he said that in order to deal with terrorism, separatism, extremism, and instability in the region, there should be more coordination between SCO member states.

The SCO defence ministers discussed military issues, threats to global and regional security, and challenges facing member countries in Friday’s meeting in New Delhi.

Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, and India are members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

Concerns about regional security have increased in Central Asia while Tajikistan announced on Wednesday that two terrorists who had entered Tajikistan from Afghanistan have been killed. Tajik officials said that these two terrorists had planned terrorist attacks inside Tajikistan.

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Thursday unanimously adopted a resolution condemning the Taliban's decision to ban Afghan female staffers of the UN from working.

The resolution stated that the Taliban’s anti-women policies undermine human rights and humanitarian principles. The UNSC members called on the Taliban to swiftly reverse its policies and practices restricting women and girls’ enjoyment of their human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Anas Haqqani is the brother of Sirajuddin Haqqani, who is the powerful minister of interior of the Taliban. This member of the Haqqani Network added, "It would have been better for the UN Security Council to evaluate the lifting of diplomatic sanctions, which punish Afghans collectively, instead of these resolutions."

Haqqani stressed that the "open arms policy" of the Taliban is the solution to problems, not the actions taken by the United Nations.

The Taliban’s reaction to the UN resolution comes while the group has not stepped back from its anti-women policies and practices during negotiations with UN officials and members of the international community.

Members of the international community have repeatedly urged the Taliban to form an inclusive government with the participation of all ethnic and political groups soon after the group took over the country in August 2021.

The Taliban released Mashal on bail a month after his arrest on February 2 in Kabul.

According to reports, the Taliban torture their prisoners and get forced confessions from them. On the other hand, no human rights organisation monitors Taliban prisons and numerous reports have been published about prisoners not having access to health services and food while in Taliban detention and imprisonment.

However, the relatives of the Afghan university professor did not explain the reasons for his health conditions.

Ismail Mashal has been an advocate and campaigner for the right to education of Afghan girls and women under the Taliban regime. He tore up his academic documents in protest against the Taliban’s decision to ban girls’ education in universities in Afghanistan and later donated his personal books to girls in the streets of Kabul.

The Taliban arrested Mashal and announced that his arrest was due to his "provocative actions against the Taliban regime”.

The US Secretary of State also stressed that respect of women’s rights by the Taliban in Afghanistan is necessary.

The Doha meeting will be held between the UN Secretary-General and special envoys of various countries on Afghanistan on May 1 and 2.

The spokesman of the UN Secretary-General said that the purpose of the Doha meeting is to build a consensus to send a unified message to the Taliban and address the challenges in Afghanistan.

It seems that with the adoption of the UN Security Council resolution that condemned the anti-women policies and practices of the Taliban, the UN Secretary-General can hope to form the desired consensus among the UN member states regarding Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, Markus Potzel, the deputy UN envoy for Afghanistan met with Abdul Salam Hanafi, Deputy Prime Minister of the Taliban in Kabul.

According to the Taliban, Potzel briefed the Taliban official on the Doha meeting and said that security, human rights, and other issues related to Afghanistan will be discussed in the upcoming meeting.

Hanafi has highlighted what the Taliban statement termed as “positive and important steps” of the group and urged the participants of the upcoming Doha meeting to take “effective and positive decisions” regarding the Taliban’s achievements in Afghanistan.

The Taliban officials have in the past emphasised that their government is inclusive and that they consider the rights of Afghan women in the "framework of Islamic Sharia".

The UNSC members called on the Taliban to swiftly reverse its policies and practices restricting women and girls’ enjoyment of their human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Except for the 15 members of the Security Council, including Russia and China, who have good relations with the Taliban, 90 other UN member countries too supported the UNSC resolution, which indicated the opposition of most governments to the policies of the Taliban.

The UNSC resolution has been drafted by the United Arab Emirates and Japan and described the ban on Afghan women’s work and education as unprecedented in the history of the United Nations.

Lana Zaki Nusseibeh, the UAE’s ambassador to the United Nations, said that this resolution has been supported by 90 countries, ranging from "Afghanistan's neighbours, Islamic countries, and other regions of the world.

“This cross-regional support makes today’s fundamental message even more significant: the world will not sit by silently as women in Afghanistan are erased from society,” Nusseibeh told the UNSC.

Robert A Wood, the United States ambassador to the UN, said that the United Nations and its member states will not remain on the sidelines when women and girls are deprived of exercising their human rights.

This is the first time that the Security Council has issued a resolution condemning the behaviour of the Taliban after the group returned to power in August 2021. China and Russia, the two members of the Security Council, have not agreed with a strong position of the UNSC against the Taliban.