No Afghan 'Reintegration' Without Progress On Rights, Says UN

Restrictions on women's rights continue to prevent Afghanistan's "reintegration" into the international community, a senior UN official said on June 21, adding that the Taliban's participation in talks in Doha on June 30-July 1 is not legitimization of the isolated hard-liners' government. Since their 2021 return to power, Taliban authorities have not been formally recognized by any nation and apply a rigorous interpretation of Islam, leading to suppression of women's freedoms that the UN has described as gender apartheid. Restrictions on women and girls, particularly in education, "deprive the country of vital human capital" and lead to a brain drain that undermines the impoverished country's future, Roza Otunbayeva, head of the UN mission in the country, UNAMA, told the Security Council.