Kabul [Afghanistan], October 8 (ANI): Afghan women face fear and an uncertain future due to the political situation that Afghanistan plunged into nearly two months ago, former Afghan Minister Masouda Jalal said on Friday. Speaking at South Asia Defence Forum’s (SADF) webinar on Friday, Masouda Jalal — the only female candidate in the Afghan Presidential elections on 2004 — highlighted that “there are concerns over women freedom in Afghanistan and even under the Taliban rule, women are afraid to live at the home alone”.
Jalal served as Afghanistan’s Minister for Women Affairs from October 2004 to 2006.
Referring to the Taliban’s act against the women, she said that the group “closed down the Ministry of Women Affairs and replaced it with the Ministry Of Virtue And Vice.
She also emphasised that the Taliban have “banned girls from going to schools” and “press freedom, freedom of expression assembly and association are also gone” from Afghanistan. She also expressed disappointment over Afghanistan’s economy and said that it is on the way to collapse. “If the economy collapses in Afghanistan humanitarian efforts will get worse.”
Afghanistan’s economy is on the way to collapse. If the economy collapses in Afghanistan humanitarian efforts will get worse. Stressing that the Doha agreement impacted the current chaos of Afghanistan, Masouda said that the “training and support for the Afghan army for a long time have not been useful”. Underlining that the withdrawal of the international forces happened irresponsible way and hurry, she pointed out that Afghans lost peace in Doha and lost the war in Kabul.
Taliban reneging against pledge of inclusive government: Afghan women’s rights activist
Brussels [Belgium], October 8 (ANI): The Taliban have gone back on their pledges to form an inclusive government and respect human rights according to women’s rights activist Masouda Jalal. Addressing a webinar organised by the South Asia Democratic Forum (SADF), Jalal said that United Nations should have a rule that facilitates, coordinates and supervises and that brings in Afghans to speak about what is happening in their country at the UN General Assembly and other international events.
She said that the world body should start working on holding an international conference on Afghanistan. “A one-month-long conference was supposed to be held in Turkey. So again they (UN) can approach Turkey or whichever country they want and start working on holding an international conference on Afghanistan,” she said.
Further, the rights activist urged the Taliban to accept an inclusive and representative government. “The United Nations can start talking to the current political settlement that they cannot go ahead without finances and without technical help. They have to come to a point or a conclusion that they should accept an inclusive representative government, and they should take part in this international conference,” Jalal said.
She further added that whatever decision the international conference will agree on, the Taliban need to agree on that and take Afghanistan forward with the help of the United Nations. Last month, the Taliban spokesperson and Deputy Information Minister Zabihullah Mujahid said that no country has the right to ask the Islamic Emirate to establish an “inclusive” government in Afghanistan. He made this comment after Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said that his country has started negotiations with the Taliban to form an inclusive government in a war-ravaged country.
It has been over a month since the Taliban captured Kabul after an aggressive and rapid advance against Afghanistan government forces. The country plunged into crisis in the month of August after Kabul fell to the Taliban and the democratically elected government of former president Ashraf Ghani collapsed. (ANI)
