WORLD NEWS | Taliban want to control more Afghan diplomatic missions

ISLAMABAD, March 25 (AP) — The Taliban government is trying to take over more Afghan embassies abroad, a spokesman said Saturday, as they continue to be isolated internationally because of restrictions on women and girls.

The Taliban initially promised softer rule after taking over in August 2021, but have instead imposed sweeping bans and other restrictions on fundamental freedoms.

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The United Nations and foreign governments have strongly condemned restrictions on women’s education and employment, and the international community remains wary of officially recognizing the Taliban, even as several countries maintain active diplomatic missions in Afghanistan, including Pakistan, Turkey, Qatar and China.

“The Islamic Emirate has sent diplomats to at least 14 countries and is working to take over other diplomatic missions abroad,” Zabihullah Mujahid, the main government spokesman, said in a video. “Diplomats from the former government are continuing their activities in coordination with the Foreign Office.”

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According to Mujahid, the government has sent diplomats to Iran, Turkey, Pakistan, Russia, China, Kazakhstan and other Arab and African countries. He did not provide further details.

In February, authorities handed over control of the Afghan embassy in Tehran to a special envoy from the Taliban government. It was previously made up of envoys from the former US-backed Afghan government.

Deputy government spokesman Bilal Karimi was not immediately able to provide figures on how many Afghan diplomatic missions were active overseas or that the government had been in charge of since August 2021.

“There are many embassies abroad. The Islamic Emirate wants to have diplomatic relations with all countries and move forward with good interactions,” he told the AP. “We hope that once official relations with the Islamic Emirate are established, embassies will be opened in all countries.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman did not respond to questions from The Associated Press about the embassy.

In January, Amina Mohammad, the top woman at the UN, said the Taliban wanted international recognition and wanted Afghanistan’s seat at the UN, currently held by the previous government of Ashraf Ghani have.

“Recognition is a lever we have and we should stick to it,” she said after meeting Taliban ministers in Kabul and Kandahar to try to reverse their crackdown on women and girls.

They bar girls from junior high school, high school, and university, and they bar women from most fields of employment, including NGOs. Women were also ordered to wear head-to-toe clothing in public and banned from parks and gyms.

Schools reopened last week without teenage girls for the new school year, more than 18 months after the ban on secondary education came into effect.

Universities reopened without female students after winter break in early March, and a ban on NGO work remains in place, although some aid agencies have partially resumed activity through exemptions.

Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said on Friday that it had been more than three months since an “intolerable ban” was imposed on female Afghan aid workers. “We’ve made some progress on the ground allowing women to go back to work, but we’re still waiting for state permission.” (AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)