The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari discussed Afghanistan’s issues, including Taliban’s bans on women, during their meeting at the UN Headquarters in New York on Friday.
The Express Tribune, a Pakistani newspaper, reported that both parties emphasized the importance of a peaceful and stable Afghanistan.
Pakistan’s Permanent Mission to the UN, the newspaper reported, said in a press release that Zardari highlighted his country’s efforts to promote stability, facilitate humanitarian aid in Afghanistan, and Islamabad’s cooperation in efforts for lifting the Taliban’s bans on women’s work and education in the country.
According to the press release, the UN chief has praised Pakistan’s active participation in multilateral forums, including at the United Nations, and hosting Afghan refugees for several decades.
The UN headquarter is hosting the 67th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW67) annual summit where world leaders and senior diplomats are invited to discuss women issues around the world.
This comes as Afghan women and girls are once again confined to home space and denied their basic rights to education and work by the Taliban, a long-time ally of Pakistan which recaptured Afghanistan in August 2021.
