Afghani Currency Stabilised With UN Cash Shipments in Afghanistan, Says WFP

The Taliban’s higher education minister discussed cooperation in the education sector in a meeting with Robert Dickson, the British Charge d’Affairs for Afghanistan.

Dickson has been appointed as the interim Charge d’Affairs of the UK mission in Afghanistan. He is on a visit to Kabul and met with the Taliban’s foreign minister too.

Nadim also said that the stability of Afghanistan depends on education and that’s why the world should cooperate in the development of education sector in the country.

He stressed that educated Afghans need to return to Afghanistan and take part in the development of the country. With the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban, many university lecturers and professors have been removed from their positions in state universities and or have fled the country.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the Taliban’s foreign ministry announced that Amir Khan Muttaqi met with Dickson in Kabul.

This ministry stated that the Taliban is thankful to the UK for “not supporting armed oppositions” of the group.

Muttaqi told Dickson that the UK should not formulate its Afghanistan policies based on "media reports". He called on the British government to be “realistic” about the Taliban.

The 23rd summit of the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation was held virtually on Tuesday and member states discussed Afghanistan too.

The Taliban criticised that they were not invited to the SCO summit.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Taliban's foreign ministry called the absence of Afghanistan’s representatives during such meetings as an obstacle to comprehensive coordination to prevent instability and drug trafficking, support humanitarian assistance, implementation of infrastructural projects, and facilitate regional economic initiatives.

The Taliban asked the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation to facilitate the participation of the group in the upcoming SCO meeting which is scheduled to be held in Kazakhstan.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation has not yet reacted to the Taliban’s demands and criticism.

However, at the SCO summit on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the organisation remains focused on Afghanistan, as the situation in the country continues to be tense.

During the non-aligned movement’s foreign ministers meeting on Wednesday in Baku, Amir-Abdollahian also called for the release of Afghanistan’s frozen assets.

He emphasised that to end decades of conflict, instability, and crisis in Afghanistan, all ethnic groups in the country must be able to participate in the government.

The Iranian foreign minister also discussed the refugee issues and said that Iran hosts millions of Afghan refugees.

Iran has announced that the country hosts around five million Afghans.

The international community and various regional stakeholders have repeatedly asked the Taliban to form an inclusive government with the participation of representatives of all ethnic groups, sects, and political groups, but the group has not been responsive to these calls.

Earlier, members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in a joint declaration said that it essential to establish an inclusive government in Afghanistan with the participation of representatives of all ethnic, religious, and political groups.

The member states believed that one of the most important factors of preservation and strengthening of safety and stability within SCO region, is advocating to build Afghanistan as an independent, neutral, united, democratic, and peaceful state, free from terrorism, war and drugs.

On Wednesday, Zakir during a meeting with United Nations officials, said that countries should support the "development and infrastructure projects" of the Taliban government without political conditions.

Western countries were the main financial supporter of the former government of Afghanistan, and provided millions of dollars to infrastructure, reconstruction, and emergency projects. However, these countries have stressed that humanitarian support to Afghanistan in many cases will be conditional on inclusive governance and respect for human rights.

On the one hand, Taliban officials have rejected the demands of these countries, but on the other hand, they have insisted that western countries should continue with their financial aid to Afghanistan.

Mawlawi Zakir claimed that the Taliban government asked for understanding and engagement with the international community and has been open to dialogue.

The UN agencies, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch warned that the decision would have negative consequences.

The UN Women Afghanistan called the closure of women's beauty salons the latest “crackdown on women rights, women’s entrepreneurship and job opportunities”.

The UN office stated that women must be a part of the economy for any country to chart a sustainable way out of crisis and improve development outcomes.

Also, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) called on the Taliban to halt the edict calling for closure of beauty salons.

According to UNAMA, which is chaired by a woman in Afghanistan, the new restrictions on women’s rights will have a negative impact on the Afghan economy and contradicts the Taliban’s stated support for women’s entrepreneurship.

UNAMA added that the organisation remains engaged with other stakeholders to reverse the bans on Afghan women.

Meanwhile, Heather Bar, Associate director of women’s rights at Human Rights Watch in response to the Taliban’s decision on banning beauty salons in Afghanistan, said that the Taliban officials spend all day trying to think of spaces that remain open for women to crush them.

Also, Samira Hamidi, a human rights activist, and Amnesty International campaigner, said that the Taliban continue to repress Afghan women justifying it as Islamic law.

According to Hamidi, closing women's beauty salons proves that the Taliban consider women as their "enemy” and stressed that she is concerned that one day the Taliban will not allow women to visit hospitals too.

The Ministry Vice and Virtue of the Taliban recently asked the municipalities of the group across Afghanistan to close all women’s beauty salons on a one-month notice.

The ministry wrote in a letter addressed to the municipalities that they issued the order to ban the beauty salons based on the "verbal" decree of Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, the leader of the Taliban.

The Taliban have previously banned Afghan women from the right to work and education, visiting parks, and restaurants, stadiums, and sports clubs.