Sheikh Mohammed Qatar’s top diplomat says the Taliban’s moves on girls’ education in Afghanistan are very disappointing and “a step backwards” while calling the group’s leadership to look to Doha for how to run an Islamic system.
In a press conference with EU’s Josep Borrell, Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani called on the Taliban to maintain ‘gains’ made in past years.
He was referring to the Taliban’s refusal to allow Afghan female secondary school students to resume their studies after they take over the country. And allowing only the boys to resume schooling.
The statement was made on Thursday in a conference with European Union Foreign Policy Chief.
“The recent actions that we have seen unfortunately in Afghanistan, it has been very disappointing to see some steps being taken backwards,” he said.
Sheikh Mohammed added that “We need to keep engaging them and urging them not to take such actions, and we have also been trying to demonstrate for the Taliban how Muslim countries can conduct their laws, how they can deal with the women’s issues,”
“One of the examples in the State of Qatar, which is a Muslim country; our system is an Islamic system [but] we have women outnumbering men in workforces, in government and higher education.”
Some weeks ago, the Taliban has been accused of human rights abuses for publicly hanging the bodies of four alleged kidnappers from cranes in Herat.
This was the most high-profile public punishment since the Taliban swept took power in Afghanistan in recent months.
However, people fear the Taliban will adopt fearsome measures similar to their previous rule from 1996 to 2001.
In a call upon the group, isolated rallies led by women have broken out across Afghanistan for preventing girls from going to secondary school.
Qatar’s top diplomats have called on the Taliban to “maintain and preserve the gains made in past years” but warned the international community and “friendly” states not to isolate Afghanistan.
Because “some of the things that have happened in Afghanistan recently … quite disappointing”
“Let’s hope we can manage to reorient … the Afghan government,” he said adding that he hoped Qatar could use its “strong influence” on the Taliban to encourage the group to improve its treatment of civilians. – Aljazeera
