Afghanistan

Women’s movement says international community seeks to ‘whitewash’ Taliban

KABUL, Afghanistan — A women’s group known as Afghan Women’s Voice Movement in a statement over the third Doha meeting claimed that the international community is seeking to “whitewash a criminal group” for its own interests, referring to Doha meeting participants in their treatment with the Taliban.

“The United Nations is sitting at the table with Taliban representatives who were on their blacklist,” the movement said in a statement.

The protesting women emphasized that women in Afghanistan have repeatedly raised their voices over the years through numerous letters, street protests, sacrifices, and imprisonment, but the world remains deaf to their pleas.

“The United Nations is engaging in dialogue with the Taliban while women in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan are deprived of all their rights, and the Taliban are recognized as human rights violators,” the statement continued.

The movement also stated that they would never recognize the Taliban and would boycott any meetings with them.

“We, the people of Afghanistan, are fed up with the repeated appeals and victimhood tactics of the United Nations, which is only pursuing its own interests,” the statement added.

This comes as the United Nations hosted the third Doha summit on Afghanistan in Qatar on June 30 and July 1.

The summit’s agenda did not include representatives of women, civil society, or discussions on women’s rights.

The United Nations also has held a meeting with women representatives and civil society members from Afghanistan on the third day of the summit on Tuesday, July 2.