By Mitra Majeedy in TOLOnews Online, Dec 10, 2023 at 7:43 PM
The US special envoy for Afghan human rights and women, Rina Amiri, called for investment in the female education sector in Afghanistan, in a bid to provide the way for a modern and “inclusive Afghanistan.”
Speaking at a session at the Doha Forum, Amiri said: “It is a moral imperative and it is a strategic imperative. If we want Afghanistan to continue on the road to a modern and inclusive Afghanistan that is not a threat to itself or to its neighbors, invest in Afghanistan, invest in its education and its population, that is what we are collectively seeking to do,” she said.
Speaking at the same session, Roya Mahboob, Afghan businesswoman and entrepreneur, said that the people in Afghanistan want change.
“Many people, even during the Doha agreement, many … said that the Taliban has been changed, or they say that the people of Afghanistan, they don’t want this type of education. It wasn’t true. In the last two-years, we have seen that the protest that is happening either by women or either by men and it has happened everywhere of Afghanistan,” she said. “It is not only because they are in bigger cities. It seems that people want change… their mindset also changed about the women’s ability. They want their girls and their daughter be able to go school.”
Amiri said that the recognition of the “Taliban” has no link with the girls’ education.
“We use the term normalization not recognition. It is not simply a check-off of ‘give girls an education and you will be recognized,’ this is a process in which we are coordinating with the rest of the international community and there is much to be done for the Taliban to get that type of normalization that they seek,” she said.
But the Islamic Emirate’s spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, stressed that human rights are ensured in the country, saying that such meetings are highlighting the negative points in Afghanistan.
“The issue of Afghanistan belongs to the Afghans inside the country. We don’t accept any ‘policy’ from abroad nor the suggestion. We want to have practical actions inside the country,” Mujahid said.
Some of the participants meanwhile called the presence of the Islamic Emirate’s delegation important in the meetings on Afghanistan in a bid to pave the way for a solution.
“Not only do we have to invite them, but we also have to be willing and courageous enough to go sit with them in Kabul,” said Rangina Hameedi, former education minister.
The meeting on the Reconstruction of Education for Women in Afghanistan in Doha comes as girl students above grade six have been deprived of schooling for more than 810 days since the Islamic Emirate swept into power.
https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-186429
