Working With Int'l Partners To Devise Consequences For Taliban For Restriction On Girls' Education: US

The US says its working with partners around the world to devise an appropriate set of consequences for the Taliban that register its condemnation over restriction on girls' education.

Afghan women chant slogans to protest against the ban on university education for women, in Kabul on December 22, 2022.

Source : AFP

Washington: The United States is working with international partners to devise consequences for the Taliban for its recent restrictions on girls' education in Afghanistan, a State Department spokesperson said Wednesday.

"We are working with our partners throughout the government and also with like-minded partners around the world to devise an appropriate set of consequences that register our condemnation for this outrageous edict on the part of the Taliban, while also protecting our status as the world's leading humanitarian provider for the people of Afghanistan,” State Department Spokesperson Ned Price told reporters at his daily news conference.

"We were very quick to condemn this, as were a number of our allies and partners around the world. This happened on Christmas Eve. We did not let the day go by before we lent our voices to condemning this. We're now working on that policy response, and we'll have more to say at the appropriate time,” he said in response to a question.

The Taliban, he said, has failed in meeting its commitments. “They have either been unable or unwilling to live up to the commitments that they have made to the United States, but more importantly, to the people of Afghanistan,” he charged.

The Biden Administration, he said, has never been under any illusions about the nature of the Taliban, what they seek and how they seek to go about doing that.

"But it is not the fact that we have been baselessly claiming that the Taliban wants better relations with the rest of the world. The Taliban, including yesterday, the acting commerce minister publicly asked for countries around the world to invest in Afghanistan, to engage in foreign direct investment inside of Afghanistan,” he said.

“That is a clear signal as any that the Taliban seeks better relations with the rest of the world,” Price said.

The US is considering what additional steps it can take to make very clear to the Taliban precisely where the United States stands.

“But we're going to do this in a coordinated way with the rest of the world, so the Taliban hears, continues to hear a unified chorus from the rest of the world, a chorus of condemnation and a series of steps that are coordinated, that make very clear where we stand,” Price said. 

 

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