A group of women held a protest in Kabul on Saturday, calling for the United Nations and the international community not to recognize the Taliban administration in Afghanistan over their policies towards human rights and women’s rights in the country.
The women criticized the United Nations and international human rights organizations for their approach toward the Taliban.
They said Taliban is using women’s rights issues as a tool to gain legitimacy from the international community.
The women said the international community understands that the Taliban has “taken women’s rights hostage in Afghanistan in order to make a deal with the international community to gain legitimacy, but they continue to engage with the Taliban.”
They added that the Taliban does not “deserve” recognition and neither can it represent the people of Afghanistan.
The women also called on the UN to stay away from “recognizing and interacting with the Taliban.”
They also stated they hold the United Nations responsible for countries having handed over Afghanistan’s diplomatic missions to Taliban’s representatives – these include Pakistan, Turkey, and Russia, among others.
The protesters urged the international community to take a “firm and persistent” stance against the “inhumane behavior and policies of the Taliban against the people of Afghanistan.”
The protest took place two days before the UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ scheduled meeting in Doha, Qatar, on Afghanistan.
The UN said the purpose of the meeting is to find a united consensus on how to deal with the Taliban and to address the current challenges in Afghanistan.
