Washington [US]: The US is deeply worried about Afghan women and girls, their rights to education, work and freedom of movement post-Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. “We call on those in positions of power and authority across Afghanistan to guarantee their protection,” read the US State Department statement, reported The Frontier Post. “Afghan women and girls, as all Afghan people, deserve to live in safety, security and dignity,” the statement said. Further, it added, “Any form of discrimination and abuse should be prevented. We in the international community stand ready to assist them with humanitarian aid and support, to ensure that their voices can be heard,” reported The Frontier Post. Earlier, the US, European Union and 19 other Western nations called on Afghanistan’s Taliban leaders to guarantee the rights of women and girls, saying in a joint statement that they are “deeply worried” about their rights to education, employment and “freedom of movement.” The countries also said they would “monitor closely how any future government ensures rights and freedoms that have become an integral part of the life of women and girls in Afghanistan during the last twenty years.” The US State Department made the statement one day after the Taliban vowed to respect women’s rights under Islamic law, in an apparent attempt to allay concerns they would impose draconian restrictions on women as they did when they ruled the country before the war. Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told reporters earlier that the new Taliban government would be “positively different” from the one that governed 1996-2001 when girls were banned from school and women were prohibited from working in contact with men. Without specifics, Mujahid said Taliban leaders were “committed to letting women work in accordance with the principles of Islam.”
