The UN has decided to ban travel to two Taliban ministers in charge of education due to the suffocating restriction of women's rights.
The United Nations today banned the travel of two Taliban ministers to Afghanistan in charge of education in retaliation for the dramatic reduction in the rights of women and girls by their regime, diplomatic sources said.
The UN has decided to extend for at least two months the travel ban, which is renewed every three months to allow the Taliban to meet with officials from other countries abroad. Its validity expired on Monday and has so far affected 15 Taliban officials.
However, the UN has excluded from the list of beneficiaries of the exemption Saeed Ahmad Seidhel, interim Deputy Minister of Education, and Abdul Baki Bashir Awal Shah, also known as Abdul Baki Hakani, interim Minister of Higher Education. named.
The two ministers are no longer allowed to travel abroad, in a first retaliatory measure by the United Nations against measures imposed by their regime in Afghanistan since it came to power in August, mainly restricting women and girls' access to work and education.
"This decision is superficial and unfair. The only thing that makes such decisions is to make the situation more critical," said Lutfullah Hirqua, the Taliban's deputy minister of higher education.
The decision was taken by the UN Sanctions Committee in charge of Afghanistan, which represents the 15 members of the Security Council.
After tough negotiations between them, a compromise was reached to extend the exemption for 13 Taliban officials for "60 + 30 days", diplomats clarified.
Due to the situation in Afghanistan, some countries were in favor of suspending the exemption for all Taliban officials. However, some others did not approve of the hard line, according to diplomats.
Under the terms of the agreement, the exemption will be automatically extended for the 13th in the third month "unless a Member State of the Council objects", a diplomatic source also said.
