U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken called on the Taliban to restore women's rights in Afghanistan following the United State's withdrawal from the county last summer.
Blinken urged the Taliban "to reverse the decision" during his remarks before the U.S. Institute of Peace for the launch of the U.S.-Afghan Consultative Mechanism July 28. Changes in Afghanistan since the U.S. withdrawal "have been painful for so many," Blinken said during his remarks.
"We continue to urge the Taliban to reverse their decision on girls education, to make good on their commitment to the Afghan people to allow girls to learn," Blinken said in his remarks, adding that the Taliban has much to gain in "women's political inclusion."
"It leads to stronger economies," Blinken continued. "It leads to healthier individuals and families. It leads to more stable, more resilient societies. These are the things that people of Afghanistan want for their futures. That's why so many members of Afghan society, men and women, rural and urban dwellers, religious scholars, people across religions and cultural backgrounds have all all called for the Taliban to let women and girls go to school again. The United States will continue to amplify these voices and do all that we can to support progress for Afghan women, girls and other at risk populations."
Blinken's comments came during his scheduled address, one of a number of others that included representatives from Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, USIP, the Atlantic Council and the Sisterhood is Global Institute. Others who delivered remarks included Special Envoy for Afghan Women, Girls, and Human Rights Rina Amiri. The gathering was assembled to launch a new program, the U.S-Afghan Consultative Mechanism.
The new program is intended to address what the State Department called the "rapid erosion" of women's rights in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover last August. The program will provide a forum for Afghan women, girls, journalists and at-risk ethnic and religious communities to inform international policymaking.
"They reversed a great deal of the openness and progress that had been made over the previous decades," Blinken said in his remarks. "They silenced civil society and journalists in March. They banned independent, international, media like Voices of America, BBC. They continue to intimidate and censor afghan media outlets. They stifle the free practice of religion for Muslims and non Muslims alike. Perhaps most notably they failed to respect the human rights of women and girls."
Under the Taliban, "women and girls have largely been erased from public life," Blinken said. As before the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, women and girls now are not allowed to move freely in the country, the numbers of forced child marriage are surging, women are barred from most professions and girls and women are not allowed to attend schools or universities.
The latter decision by the Taliban "happened while some girls were literally walking to school and others were already sitting at their desks" and "was a reversal of commitments they [the Taliban] made to the Afghan people and to the world for 314 days and counting," Blinken said.
"The girls of Afghanistan have sat at home while their brothers and cousins have been receiving educations," he said. "It's a terrible, terrible waste."
