The leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) in a statement criticized violations of human rights, particularly recent restrictions by the Islamic Emirate on women’s employment and access to education in Afghanistan.
The G7 leaders in their annual summit that was held in Hiroshima, Japan, on May 19, called for the cancellation of the ban on women and girls in Afghanistan and emphasized the need for full participation of the people in the government and the start of the national dialogue.
They also asked the current Afghan government to fulfil its commitments to the people of Afghanistan and the world and not to allow terrorist groups to use Afghanistan’s soil against other countries.
“We call on the Taliban to uphold its counterterrorism commitments and to ensure the territory of Afghanistan cannot be used to threaten or attack any country, to plan or finance terrorist acts, or to shelter and train terrorists,” the statement said.
“We express our strongest opposition to the Taliban’s systematic violations on human rights and fundamental freedoms, and call for the immediate reversal of unacceptable decisions, especially those against women and girls,” the statement added.
The G7 leaders also said that “all Afghans must enjoy full, equal, and meaningful participation in all spheres of public life, and have access to humanitarian assistance and basic services.”
“We call upon the Taliban to respect UNSCR 2681/2023 and the UN Charter, including Article 8, and to ensure unrestricted operations of the UN in Afghanistan. To remedy the persistent lack of political inclusivity and representation, we urge the Taliban to take significant steps to engage in credible, inclusive and Afghan-led national dialogue, in which all Afghans can be involved,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, on the sidelines of the Central Asia-China Summit, Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev emphasized the need to provide assistance for the purpose of preventing the spread of the humanitarian crisis and fighting against terrorism.
“We consider it essential to fully use the dialogue platforms of the Contact Group within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and Afghanistan’s neighbor-states to develop a coordinated position and prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in that country. As you noted yesterday, Mr. Xi Jinping, it is important to jointly promote issues related to assisting to build an inclusive political system in Afghanistan, to establish full-scale counter-terrorism cooperation between our countries,” Tokayev said.
But the Islamic Emirate said that women’s rights have been respected in accordance with the Islamic Sharia and that an inclusive governance has also been formed.
The Islamic Emirate’s deputy spokesman, Bilal Karimi, praised regional countries for helping Afghanistan and highlighted that Afghanistan’s soil is not a threat to any country.
“Security is ensured. The entire geography and territory of the country is controlled by the Islamic Emirate and there is no group or movement in Afghanistan that threatens other countries from Afghanistan’s soil. There should be no worries in this regard,” Karimi noted.
“The informal interactions that the region and the world have with the current Afghan government should prioritize the rights of Afghan women so that in the future we will see the reopening of schools for girls,” Soraya Pikan, a women’s rights activist, told TOLOnews.
“These countries are really interested in China to assist them in their development, military affairs and weapons because they are anxious and concerned about Afghanistan,” said Asadullah Nadim a military affairs analyst.
This comes as Uzbekistan’s Special Representative for Afghanistan Ismatilla Irgashev in a meeting last week with the special representative of UK for Afghanistan Andrew McCubrey discussed the issue of an Afghan settlement.
The British side highly appreciated the constructive role of Uzbekistan in finding solutions to resolve the situation in Afghanistan, as well as in ensuring peaceful development in the country, the Uzbek envoy said.
