On Saturday, Russia became the first country in the world to recognize the Taliban government at the helm of Afghanistan since the Islamist movement took power in August 2021.
A spokesman for the Taliban Foreign Ministry announced Saturday that the Afghan Embassy in Moscow has been officially handed over to its representatives. For Moscow, the previous representation ceases to be effective and will be transferred to a new chargé d'affaires, Yamal Gharwal.
“Last month the first Afghan diplomat sent by the new authorities arrived in Moscow and received accreditation to our Ministry,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said last Thursday in statements collected by Russian news agency Interfax.
Lavrov said that despite “lack of management experience, financial and economic constraints, political and diplomatic pressure from the United States and its allies, Afghanistan's new government has generally managed to keep the state afloat.”
However, he stated that the new authorities must represent not only the country's various ethnic groups, national and religious minorities, but also political forces.
Since its invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, Russia has been very isolated and has put pressure on many countries with a letter warning them about the consequences of the vote that suspended Moscow this week at the UN Human Rights Council.
No country has so far recognized the Taliban government, which is responsible for harsh human rights restrictions, particularly for women, who cannot study in high schools or must travel accompanied by a guardian.
Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai, a long-time advocate for women's education, also expressed her outrage last month at the news that girls would not be admitted to Afghan schools.
The Taliban “will continue to find excuses to stop girls from learning, because they are afraid of educated girls and self-employed women,” said Yousafzai, who survived an assassination attempt by the Pakistani Taliban when she was 15 years old.
The Director-General of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay, considered that the decision to deprive young women of classes constitutes “a huge setback”. “Access to education is a fundamental right,” he added.
The United States criticized the Islamists' decision. This is “a betrayal of the public commitments that Taliban leaders made to the Afghan people and the international community,” said State Department spokesman Ned Price.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, said in a statement that she “shares the deep frustration and disappointment of high school students and Afghan female students.” He considered the “inability of the de facto authorities to respect their commitments” to Afghanistan “profoundly detrimental” to Afghanistan.
The international community made women's schooling a key point in the negotiations on aid and recognition of the Islamist regime, which in its previous term (1996-2001) had banned women's education.
With information from EuropaPress
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