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AfghanistanWashington imposes visa restrictions on the Taliban
Washington on Tuesday announced new sanctions targeting the Taliban in retaliation for the treatment of women and girls in Afghanistan.
The Taliban, which regained power in August 2021 after the Americans withdrew, banned secondary education for girls. (illustrative image)
AFP
The United States announced new sanctions on the Taliban on Tuesday in retaliation for the treatment of women and girls in Afghanistan.
“Today, I am announcing restrictions on the granting of visas (…) to current and former members of the Taliban and other individuals deemed responsible or complicit in the repression of women and girls in Afghanistan through restrictive policies and violence,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement on the tenth anniversary of International Day of the Girl.
According to Antony Blinken, Afghanistan remains “for a year the only country in the world where girls are systematically prohibited from going to school beyond the sixth, with no date of return in sight”.
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Girls’ education is an extremely sensitive issue in Afghanistan, a country with a Sunni majority. The Taliban, which regained power in August 2021 after the Americans withdrew, banned secondary education (middle and high school) for girls. Female students, on the other hand, are admitted to university.
A recent suicide attack in a training center for students in Kabul killed 53 people, including at least 46 girls and young women, according to a report by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (Manua).
(AFP)