The Biden administration has imposed new visa restrictions on current and former members of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) over its “repression of women and girls”.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that the visa restriction policy will apply to current and former IEA members, members of non-state security groups and others believed to be responsible or complicit in the government’s repressive policies.

“We continue to press the Taliban (IEA) and others to respect the human rights and fundamental freedoms — including the right to education — of all Afghans, including women and girls,” Blinken tweeted.

In a statement issued by the State Department, Blinken said restrictive policies includes “discontinuing and/or restricting access to secondary or higher education for girls and women; preventing women’s full participation in the workforce and their ability to choose their careers; restricting women’s movement, expression, or privacy; as well as engaging in violence and harassment including unjust arrest and detention of women, girls, or their family members for noncompliance with discriminatory policies.

“Immediate family members of such persons may also be subject to these restrictions,” he said.

Blinken said “for more than a year, Afghanistan remains the only country in the world where girls are systemically barred from attending school beyond the sixth grade, with no return date in sight.”

Others added their voice to calls for the IEA to reopen girls’ schools.

Tomas Niklasson, the EU’s special envoy for Afghanistan tweeted Tuesday night that “schools need to re-open, or open, across Afghanistan, offering girls of all ages access to quality education. The teachers, engineers, doctors, architects, civil servants and business leaders of tomorrow, building a more prosperous Afghanistan, together with their brothers.”

UN Chief António Guterres also spoke out and said: “I am extremely concerned by the continued exclusion of girls from school in Afghanistan.

“This is deeply damaging to girls themselves & to a country that desperately needs their energy & contributions.”

Marking Day Of The Girl, he said: “I once again urge the Taliban to let girls learn.”

The Islamic Emirate Afghanistan (IEA), however, rejects the claims of suppressing women and says that the world should engage with the Islamic Emirate instead of putting pressure on them.