The UN deputy chief, Amina Mohammed, who is heading a delegation in Kabul to convince Taliban leaders to lift restrictions on women and girls, met the Taliban deputy prime minister, Abdul Salam Hanafi, on Thursday.
A statement released by Abdul Salam Hanafi’s office, following their meeting, said the Taliban deputy prime minister complained to Amina Mohammed that the “UN hadn’t cooperated with the group on gaining international recognition, Afghanistan’s seat in the UN and removing its leaders from blacklist.”
The statement cites Amina Mohammed as saying t “the UN would want to increase aid to Afghanistan and want the country to become an active member of the international community.”
Amina Mohammed, according to the statement, said that Afghan women were needed to work in various sectors. And the restrictions imposed on them must be resolved through dialogue.
Accompanying the UN deputy chief, the head of the UN Women, Sima Bahous, reportedly told Hanafi that providing aid to Afghanistan depended on opportunities for women.
Amina Mohammed met with the Taliban foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, yesterday, who, just as Hanafi, complained about the group’s non-recognition, blacklisting of its leaders and gaining Afghanistan’s UN seat.
Amina Mohammed also met with the former Afghan president Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah.
Despite international pressures and constant lobbying by the UN and others, the Taliban has not reversed its bans on women’s right to work and education.
