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US warns of ‘costs’ if IEA’s suspension of women from universities not reversed
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has warned the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) of costs if it does not reverse its decision to suspend university education for women in the country.
Blinken said on Thursday that the IEA will not be able to improve relations with the rest of the world if it continued to deny Afghan women their fundamental rights.
“What they’ve done is to try to sentence Afghan women and girls to a dark future without opportunity,” Blinken said during an end-of-year news conference in Washington, DC.
“And the bottom line is that no country is going to be able to succeed – much less thrive – if it denies half its population the opportunity to contribute.
“And to be clear, we’re engaged with other countries on this right now – there are going to be costs if this is not reversed if this has not changed,” said Blinken, without specifying what the measures might include.
On Tuesday, IEA told universities across the country to suspend education for women until further notice.
In an interview with RTA on Thursday night, the minister of higher education Neda Mohammad Nadeem said there were a number of reasons behind the decision to ban women from attending university.
He said reforms imposed by the IEA on the higher education sector had not been implemented.
According to him, there were four key reasons for the decision. These were that female students were not observing the full hijab rule, that women living in dormitories were on their own and not accompanied by a male relative, that co-education of male and female students continued and that some faculties for women were not in keeping with Islamic laws.
IEA’s recent decision on female university students has been met with a global outcry. Not only have Western countries condemned the decision but Islamic nations, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and Turkey, among others, have also called for the decision to be overturned.
Gul Hassan Hassan, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s (IEA) ambassador to Russia, said on Friday that the group’s leadership and centers had been completely eliminated from Afghan territory.
He made the remarks during a joint security conference in Moscow involving the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which focused on security issues in Central Asia and Afghanistan.
Hassan stressed that the IEA would not allow anyone to use Afghan territory against other countries.
He also said the IEA had made significant progress in strengthening security, combating narcotics and boosting the country’s economy over the past five-plus years.
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CSTO chief says IEA has become long-term political actor in Afghanistan
Masadykov said CSTO member states have stepped up bilateral engagement with the IEA authorities in Kabul to promote economic development.
Talatbek Masadykov, secretary-general of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), has said the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) has become a long-term political actor in the country, noting that most CSTO member states have intensified contacts with IEA officials.
Masadykov said CSTO member states have stepped up bilateral engagement with the IEA authorities in Kabul to promote economic development, strengthen social stability and reduce security risks originating from Afghanistan.
He stressed that Afghanistan urgently needs peace, stability and economic development, adding that addressing poverty, drug trafficking, terrorist activities, armed conflicts and other security threats requires pragmatic, coordinated and gradual international engagement with the country.
The CSTO secretary-general also highlighted the importance of closer coordination among the CSTO, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in supporting peace and stability in Afghanistan.
Masadykov made the remarks during a joint meeting of representatives from the three organizations focused on security in Central Asia and Afghanistan.
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Lavrov warns of western-backed ‘color revolutions,’ raises concerns over Afghanistan’s regional security
He also warned that radical groups were seeking to use Afghanistan as a launching pad to expand threats towards Central Asia and Russia.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned that any country, including Russia’s partners in Central Asia, could become a target of what he described as Western-orchestrated “color revolutions,” while raising concerns about security threats emerging from Afghanistan.
According to Russia’s TASS news agency, Lavrov made the remarks on Friday, October 16, during a conference on security in Central Asia and Afghanistan in Moscow, attended by representatives of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
Lavrov said attempts to initiate such movements in several neighbouring countries had already been thwarted.
Lavrov Raises Concerns Over Afghanistan’s Security Legacy
Referring to the two decades of US and NATO military presence in Afghanistan, Lavrov said the consequences of what he described as an unsuccessful occupation would take a long time to overcome.
He also warned that radical groups were seeking to use Afghanistan as a launching pad to expand threats towards Central Asia and Russia.
This comes as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has repeatedly stated that Afghan territory will not be used against any neighboring country, and that no armed group will be permitted to operate.
The meeting was held with the participation of representatives from the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
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