US says it will increase pressure on Taliban if decisions on women not reversed
India Today
The US has said it will increase pressure on the Taliban if they don't reverse decisions on women and girls.
The United States will take steps to increase pressure on Afghanistan's Taliban government to reverse some of its recent decisions restricting the rights of women and girls if the hardline group shows no sign of rescinding the actions on its own.
"We've addressed it directly with the Taliban," State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a briefing on Monday. "We have a number of tools that, if we feel these won't be reversed, these won't be undone, that we are prepared to move forward with."
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He did not elaborate on the possible steps or indicate how the group, which has already implemented policies curbing 20 years of gains for girls' and women's rights, might have a change of heart.
The Taliban on Saturday ordered women to cover their faces in public, a return to a signature policy of their past hardline rule and an escalation of restrictions that are causing anger at home and abroad.
The ideal face covering was the all-encompassing blue burqa, the group said, referring to the garment that was obligatory for women in public during the Taliban's previous 1996-2001 rule.
The international community has made the education of girls a key demand for any future recognition of the Taliban administration, which took over the country in August as foreign forces withdrew.
