US cancels talks with Taliban after closing of girls’ schools in Afghanistan

Washington announced on Friday that it was canceling talks with them Taliban in Doha, Qatar, over their decision to close girls’ secondary schools in Afghanistan.

“We have canceled some of our commitments, including the meetings scheduled in Doha for the Doha Forum, and we have made it clear that we see this decision as a possible turning point in our commitment,” said State Department spokeswoman T.J.

The Doha Forum takes place on Saturday and Sunday in the Qatari capital.

The Taliban, Sunni fundamentalists who took power in Afghanistan again in August 2021, withdrew on Wednesday from a decision to allow girls to attend high schools and lyceums just hours after their reopening, without giving a clear explanation.

“This decision by the Taliban, if not overturned quickly, will profoundly hurt the Afghan people, the country’s economic growth prospects and the Taliban’s ambition to improve their relations with the international community,” she said.

“In the interests of Afghanistan’s future and in the relationship between the Taliban and the international community, we urge the Taliban to live up to their commitments to their people,” he said.

“The United States stands with Afghan girls and their families who see education as a way to make the most of the potential of Afghan society and the economy,” he said.

At the UN Security Council, the ambassador of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Lana Nusaybeh, denounced an “arbitrary decision” of the Taliban, in a statement issued by ten countries (UAE, Norway, Albania, France, B Ireland, Mexico, United Kingdom and USA).

The move is “a reversal of the commitments made by the Taliban themselves in recent weeks and months” and “a deeply worrying setback,” he said, adding that “education is a universal right for all children and that includes girls in Afghanistan.” .

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, and the Director-General of Unesco, Ondre Azoule, have also recently denounced the ban on young Afghans returning to school.

Six Western countries, including the United States and the European Union, called on the Taliban on Thursday to “urgently reconsider” their decision to close girls’ secondary schools, in a joint statement.

France, Italy, Norway, the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, as well as the EU High Representative, have warned that the decision would have “far-reaching consequences for girls in Afghanistan”. may erase the ambition of the current Afghan authorities to make the country a “member of the community of nations that will be respected”.

“It will inevitably have an impact on the Taliban’s chances of securing political support and legitimacy at home and abroad,” the joint statement continued, stressing the implications for “social cohesion” and “the country’s economic development.”

“Every Afghan citizen, whether boy or girl, man or woman, has an equal right to education at all levels, in all provinces of the country,” the text added.