RASC News Agency: The Powerful Women of Afghanistan Movement and the Exiled Freedom Movement have condemned the Doha meeting as an attempt to “whitewash” the Taliban. These two movements have labeled any deal with the Taliban as an effort to legitimize them. In a statement, these protesting women’s movements declared that the Doha meeting aims to whitewash the Taliban and, due to the absence of Afghanistani women and people’s representatives, they are boycotting the event.
The protesting women denounced “lobbying for the Taliban,” asserting that any engagement, invitation, or hosting of the Taliban at the Doha meeting is “unacceptable.” The statement from these movements reads: “The United Nations has forgotten its primary mission and is politically whitewashing the ‘terrorist Taliban,’ overlooking their human rights violations and crimes against women.”
The protesting women also remarked: “It is regrettable that the United Nations, ignoring the oppression and terror inflicted by the Taliban on the Afghanistani people, is choosing to engage and negotiate with this group, allowing them to participate in the third Doha meeting through UN concessions.”
The Powerful Women of Afghanistan Movement and the Exiled Freedom Movement criticized the UN’s actions, comparing them to the Taliban’s exclusion of women from all political and social spheres in Afghanistan. They claimed that the UN is similarly excluding women from participating in the third Doha meeting.
Their statement further emphasized: “The gender apartheid imposed by the Taliban on Afghanistani women, with the UN’s complicity, is silencing the voices of Afghanistani women.” Previously, Afghanistani women around the world had called for a boycott of the Taliban and launched a campaign against the Doha meeting.
Meanwhile, the third Doha meeting on Afghanistan, hosted by the UN’s Deputy Secretary-General for Political Affairs, is set to commence in a few hours. Earlier, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric announced that Afghanistani women representatives and civil activists would meet with various country and organization representatives on the third day of the meeting (following the main session).
Representatives from Iran, Pakistan, and the Taliban are also en route to Qatar.
