Richard Bennett, the United Nations special rapporteur for Afghanistan, said that if the absence of women in the Doha meeting helped the goal of the Taliban’s presence in the meeting, then the United Nations has paid a high price.
In an article in the New York Times, Mr. Bennett said that after talks with the Taliban, the Doha meeting will focus on the fight against drugs and the private sector, and women and civil society representatives, as well as women’s rights and human rights issues, will not be discussed.
He said in this article: “If these deprivations [women’s issues] are the price of the presence of the Taliban in Doha, the cost is very high.”
According to him, “the brutal institutionalized restrictions of the Taliban are not only devastating for the current generation of Afghan women and girls, and if it is not managed, irreparable damage will be inflicted on the future generations of Afghans.”
According to him, “the brutal institutionalized restrictions of the Taliban are not only devastating for the current generation of Afghan women and girls, and if it is not managed, irreparable damage will be inflicted on the future generations of Afghans.”
Mr. Bennett says boys who grow up under Taliban rule that legitimizes the dehumanization of women and girls may follow their leaders and continue to mistreat women.
The UN Special Rapporteur says these boys are vulnerable to extremism and are sowing the seeds of security concerns that extend beyond Afghanistan’s borders.