UN calls for meaningful role of women in Afghan peace process

In this photograph taken on September 21, 2017, Afghan women watch a football match at the Afghanistan Football Federation stadium in Kabul. (AFP/File)
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Updated 13 March 2021
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UN calls for meaningful role of women in Afghan peace process

  • UN Security Council condemned the alarming number of attacks deliberately targeting civilians in Afghanistan
  • It said sustainable peace can be achieved only through an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned peace process aiming at a permanent ceasefire

United Nations, United States: The UN Security Council called Friday for the "full, equal and meaningful participation of women" in Afghanistan's peace process, without mentioning recent US efforts to end the conflict there.

"The members of the Security Council recognized that a sustainable peace can be achieved only through a comprehensive and inclusive Afghan-led, Afghan-owned peace process that aims at a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire," the council said in a statement.

The council "condemned in the strongest terms the alarming number of attacks deliberately targeting civilians in Afghanistan."

Without naming any particular group, the council said its members "also expressed their deep concerns about the threat posed by terrorism to Afghanistan and the region."

"The members of the Security Council strongly encouraged parties to the negotiations to pursue confidence-building measures, including reductions in violence, and to continue to engage in good faith," it said.

Washington recently submitted a draft peace agreement to the authorities in Kabul and to the Taliban, including the creation of a "new inclusive government," according to a letter from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that was revealed by Afghan media.

In that plan, the United States proposed holding an inter-Afghan meeting in Turkey and organizing, under the aegis of the United Nations, an international ministerial gathering that would bring together the United States, Russia, China, India, Pakistan and Iran to forge "a unitary approach" on the future of Afghanistan.
 


Maduro arrives in New York after capture by US

Updated 04 January 2026
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Maduro arrives in New York after capture by US

  • The 63-year-old leader was to be taken first to the offices of the US Drug Enforcement Administration, then to the Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal facility in Brooklyn, according to US media

NEWBURGH, United States: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro arrived Saturday evening at a military base in the United States and was transferred to New York City, after his capture by US forces in Caracas.
FBI agents surrounded Maduro as he descended from a US government plane and slowly escorted him along the tarmac at a National Guard facility in New York state.
The leftist leader was then flown by helicopter to Manhattan, where a large law enforcement contingent awaited, AFP images showed.
The 63-year-old leader was to be taken first to the offices of the US Drug Enforcement Administration, then to the Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal facility in Brooklyn, according to US media.
The detention center is the same jail where rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs was held throughout his trial last year.
Maduro and his wife are to be arraigned at an unspecified date before a judge in New York. They have been charged with “narco-terrorism,” importing tons of cocaine into the United States, and possession of illegal weapons.