UNITED NATIONS: The UN political chief who will chair the first meeting between Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers and envoys from about 25 countries answered sharp criticism that Afghan women have been excluded, saying Wednesday that women’s rights will be raised at every session.
Undersecretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo stressed to a small group of reporters that the two-day meeting starting Sunday is an initial engagement aimed at initiating a step-by-step process with the goal of seeing the Taliban “at peace with itself and its neighbors and adhering to international law,” the UN Charter, and human rights.
This is the third UN meeting with Afghan envoys in Qatar’s capital, Doha, but the first that the Taliban are attending. They weren’t invited to the first and refused to attend the second.
Other attendees include envoys from the European Union, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the United States, Russia, China and several of Afghanistan’s neighbors, DiCarlo said.
The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in 2021 as United States and NATO forces withdrew following two decades of war. No country officially recognizes them as Afghanistan’s government, and the UN has said that recognition is almost impossible while bans on female education and employment remain in place and women can’t go out without a male guardian.
When DiCarlo met with senior Taliban officials in Kabul in May, she said she made clear that the international community is concerned about four things: the lack of an inclusive government, the denial of human rights especially for women and girls, and the need to combat terrorism and the narcotics trade.
“The issue of inclusive governance, women’s rights, human rights writ large, will be a part of every single session,” she said. “This is important, and we will hear it again and again, I’m sure from quite a number of us.”
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International criticized the United Nations for not having Afghan women and civil society representatives at the table with the Taliban.
DiCarlo described the meeting as a process. “This is not an inter-Afghan dialogue,” she stressed. “I would hope we could get to that someday, but we’re not there.”
The Taliban’s foreign ministry on Tuesday reiterated the concerns they want to raise — restrictions on Afghanistan’s financial and banking system, development of the private sector, and countering drug trafficking. DiCarlo said they also raised Afghanistan’s vulnerability to climate change.
She said discussions on the first day of the Doha meeting on Sunday will focus on how the world would engage with the Taliban to achieve the objectives of peace and its adherence to international law and human rights. The assessment calls for a step-by-step process, where each side would respond to actions taken by the other.
On the second day, the participants will discuss the private sector, including getting more women into the workforce through microfinance projects, as well as counter-narcotics efforts, such as alternative livelihoods and support for drug addicts, she said.
“Hopefully, it will achieve some progress, but it will be slow,” DiCarlo said.
She stressed that the meeting isn’t about the Taliban and doesn’t signify any recognition of Afghan’s rulers as the country’s official government. “That’s not in the cards,” she said.
“This is about Afghanistan and the people and their need to feel a part of the international community and have the kinds of support and services and opportunities that others have — and they’re pretty blocked off right now,” DiCarlo said.
Before the meeting, the UN political chief met with the Afghan diaspora. After the meeting on Tuesday, she said the UN and the envoys will meet with civil society representatives including women, and private sector representatives mainly living in Afghanistan.
Women’s rights will be raised at the UN meeting being attended by Taliban, UN official says
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Women’s rights will be raised at the UN meeting being attended by Taliban, UN official says
- Meeting will be the third UN meeting with Afghan envoys in Qatar’s capital, Doha, but the first that the Taliban are attending
- The participants will discuss the private sector, including getting more women into the workforce through microfinance projects
North Korea condemns joint military exercise by South Korea, US and Japan
- On Thursday, the three countries began large-scale joint military drills involving navy destroyers, fighter jets and the nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, aimed at boosting defenses against missiles, submarines and air attacks
SEOUL: North Korea criticized the trilateral “Freedom Edge” military exercise by South Korea, Japan and the United States held between June 27 and 29 as “provocative,” a statement by a department of the country’s foreign ministry, carried by KCNA, said on Sunday.
Pyongyang will not ignore the strengthening of a military bloc led by the US and its allies and will protect regional peace with an aggressive and overwhelming response, the statement said.
On Thursday, the three countries began large-scale joint military drills involving navy destroyers, fighter jets and the nuclear-powered US
aircraft carrier
Theodore Roosevelt, aimed at boosting defenses against missiles, submarines and air attacks.
The “Freedom Edge” exercise was devised at the three-way summit at Camp David last year to strengthen military cooperation amid tensions on the Korean peninsula stemming from North Korea’s weapons testing.
Last year, the three countries
staged
joint naval missile defense and anti-submarine exercises to improve responses to North Korean threats.
Afghan women’s rights an internal issue, Taliban government says before talks in Qatar
- The Taliban government imposed restrictions on women since seizing power in 2021, prompting the UN to call it ‘gender apartheid’
- The UN launched the talks in Qatar in May 2023 to increase international coordination on engagement with the Taliban authorities
KABUL: Taliban authorities said on Saturday that demands over women’s rights were “Afghanistan’s issues” to solve, ahead of United Nations-led engagement talks where the exclusion of Afghan women has sparked outcry.
The Taliban government, which has imposed restrictions on women since seizing power in 2021 that the UN has described as “gender apartheid,” will send its first delegation to the third round of talks starting in Qatar on Sunday.
Civil society representatives, including from women’s rights groups, will attend meetings with the international envoys and UN officials on Tuesday, after the official talks.
Rights groups have condemned the exclusion of Afghan women from the main meetings and the lack of human rights issues on the agenda.
The Taliban authorities “acknowledge the issues about women,” government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told a news conference in Kabul on the eve of the latest talks.
“But these issues are Afghanistan’s issues,” said Mujahid, who will lead the delegation.
“We are working to find a logical path toward solutions inside Afghanistan so that, God forbid, our country doesn’t again fall into conflict and discord.”
He said the Taliban government would represent all of Afghanistan at the meetings and, given their authority, should be the only Afghans at the table.
“If Afghans participate through several channels, it means we are still scattered, our nation is still not unified,” he said.
The talks were launched by the UN in May 2023 and aim to increase international coordination on engagement with the Taliban authorities, who ousted a Western-backed government when they swept to power.
The Taliban government has not been officially recognized by any state and the international community has wrestled with its approach to Afghanistan’s new rulers, with women’s rights issues a sticking point for many countries.
Taliban authorities were not invited to the first talks in Doha last year and refused to attend the second conference, demanding that they be the sole Afghan representatives to the exclusion of invited civil society groups.
That condition has been met for the third round.
Mujahid reiterated that the Taliban government sought positive relations with all countries.
However, he added that “no major or key discussions” would take place in Doha and that the meeting was an opportunity to exchange views, particularly with Western countries.
The agenda will include combating narcotics and economic issues, key topics for authorities in the impoverished country.
“We have hurdles blocking economic development, which should be removed,” Mujahid said.
“If the economy were fine, then all other issues could be solved.”
Russian attack on southeastern Ukrainian town kills seven, officials say
- President Volodymyr Zelensky repeated his appeal to allies to provide Ukraine with more long-range weapons and enhanced air defenses
- Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin said two missiles were fired on the town, damaging infrastructure, a shop and residential buildings
KYIV: Russian forces on Saturday fired missiles at the town of Vilniansk, outside the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, killing seven people, including two children, and injuring up to 18 others, officials said.
President Volodymyr Zelensky repeated his appeal to allies to provide Ukraine with more long-range weapons and enhanced air defenses to stop what he said were daily attacks.
Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin said two missiles were fired on the town, damaging infrastructure, a shop and residential buildings.
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko put the death toll at seven, including two children, with 18 others injured, including four children. “Today the enemy carried out yet another dreadful terrorist act against the civilian population,” Zaporizhzhia Regional Governor Ivan Fedorov said in a video posted on the Telegram messaging app.
The attack occurred in “the middle of the day, a non-working day, in the town center, where people were out relaxing, where there were no military targets,” Fedorov said.
Zelensky posted photos from the site showing a large crater, downed trees and a pair of tarpaulins spread out on the ground of what looked like a park.
“Our cities and communities suffer daily from such Russian strikes. But there are ways to overcome this,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram.
“Destroying terrorists where they are. Destroying Russian missile launchers, striking with real long-range capability and increasing the number of modern air defense systems in Ukraine” were ways to defend the country from such attacks, Zelensky said.
Australian PM distances government from King Charles’ decision to award medal to soldier accused of Afghanistan war crimes
- Ben Roberts-Smith among those handed commemorative medals marking British monarch's coronation
- Australian Federal Court judge last year dismissed defamation case brought by Roberts-Smith over unlawful killing claims
LONDON: The Australian government has distanced itself from the awarding of an honor from the UK’s King Charles III to a former special forces soldier accused of committing war crimes in Afghanistan.
Buckingham Palace decided to present commemorative medals to all living Victoria Cross recipients, which includes Ben Roberts-Smith, who attended a ceremony at Western Australia’s Government House this week to receive the honor.
Last year an Australian Federal Court judge concluded that Roberts-Smith was involved in the unlawful killings of four Afghan prisoners. The ruling came after a lengthy trial brought about when the former soldier sued three newspapers for defamation.
Roberts-Smith brought a case against The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and the Canberra Times, as well as two journalists, over reports that alleged he had committed war crimes while deployed in Afghanistan. Last June, the judge dismissed the case.
Roberts-Smith, who has faced no criminal charges, has appealed the verdict and has maintained his innocence.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Saturday it would be wrong for his government to get involved.
“Well, this isn’t a decision of the government, this was a decision of (Buckingham Palace) to give all VC recipients a further award,” he said.
“There’s ongoing legal action potentially on these issues, so given the government’s engagement, it’s important that there not be interference in that. But it certainly wasn’t a government decision,” he added.
Court order bans encampments in LSE building after pro-Palestine protest
- Students had been camped in Marshal Building for about a month
- ‘No breaches of the interim order,’ LSE spokesperson says
LONDON: Pro-Palestine students have lost their legal battle against the London School of Economics after a court indefinitely barred them from setting up an encampment on campus, The Guardian reported on Saturday.
The students had vowed to remain in a camp they had set up on the ground floor atrium of Marshal Building on May 14 until the LSE met their demands. They were reported to have been there for about a month until the LSE initiated legal action.
On Friday at Central London county court, District Judge Morayo Fagborun-Bennett granted a possession order, indefinitely banning the establishment of encampments at the location.
Another judge granted LSE an interim possession order on June 14, which meant the camp had to be removed within 24 hours. The students disbanded their camp on June 17.
Commenting on behalf of LSE, Olivia Davies said there had been “no breaches of the interim order” by the defendants since the interim possession order was granted.
Daniel Grutters, representing three students, said: “Those instructing me had only opposed the making of the interim possession order. Since that was made, we indicated that we would not defend the possession order. We are agreed that the possession order can be made.”
During Friday’s hearing, Davies told the court that no students had faced any disciplinary action over the encampment.
“That’s good to know,” the judge said.
The encampment was set up following the release of the Assets in Apartheid report by the LSE Students’ Union Palestine society.
It claims that the LSE has invested £89 million ($112.6 million) in 137 companies involved in the conflict in Gaza, fossil fuels, the arms industry or nuclear weapons production.
The entrenched students had said they would remain in their camp until the LSE took several steps, including divestment and democratization of the financial decision-making process.
