Shahabuddin Delawar, head of the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) under Taliban control, says the issue of women was not raised in the Doha Agreement between the Taliban and the United States.
Delawar, who was one of the Taliban’s senior negotiators in Doha, told Shamshad TV that the word “woman” does not appear anywhere in the text of the agreement, from beginning to end.
“This is how conservative Pashtuns and the People of Afghanistan are on the issue of women that they do not even mention the word ‘woman’ in meetings. How could we have raised this issue with the Americans?” the Taliban official added.
Elsewhere in the interview, Delawar defended the ban on girls’ education above the sixth grade.
He stressed that, under an order issued by Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban Supreme Leader, the ban would remain in place until further notice.
Delawar’s latest remarks differ from his previous statements on women’s rights.
At one of the Doha negotiation meetings, he had said that women had the right to study and work up to the doctoral level and that the Taliban would be committed to these rights.
About three years ago, Delawar had also expressed hope in several speeches that restrictions on girls’ education might be lifted.
This comes as the majority of the People of Afghanistan oppose the restrictions imposed by the Taliban on women and girls and attribute these bans to the Taliban’s ideology.
