DOHA: Afghanistan’s foreign minister appealed to the world for good relations on Monday but avoided making firm commitments on girls’ education despite international demands to allow all Afghan children to go back to school.
Almost two months after the former Western-backed government collapsed and insurgent forces swept into Kabul, the new Taliban administration has pushed to build relations with other countries to help stave off a catastrophic economic crisis.
“The international community need to start cooperating with us,” acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said at an event organized by Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies. “With this we will be able to stop insecurity and at the same time with this we will be able to engage positively with the world.”
But the Taliban have so far refused to give ground on allowing girls to return to high school, one of the key demands of the international community after a decision last month that schools above the sixth grade would only reopen for boys.
Muttaqi said the Taliban’s Islamic Emirate government was moving carefully but had only been in power for a few weeks and could not be expected to complete reforms the international community had not been able to implement in 20 years.
“They had a lot of financial resources and they had a strong international backing and support but at the same time you are asking us to do all the reforms in two months?” he said.
The new administration has come under sustained criticism for its approach to girls’ education, considered one of the limited number of unambiguously positive gains from the West’s two decades of involvement in Afghanistan.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said the Taliban had broken promises on guaranteeing rights for women and girls and there was no way the economy could be fixed if women were barred from work.
Muttaqi repeated calls for the United States to lift a block on more than $9 billion of Afghan central bank reserves held outside the country but said the government had revenues of its own from taxes, customs tariffs and agriculture if the funds remain frozen.
He said Taliban forces had full control of the country and were able to control the threat from Daesh militants who have claimed a series of deadly attacks in recent weeks, including last week’s bombing at a Shiite mosque in the northern city of Kunduz.
“The Daesh issue has been controlled by the Islamic Emirate very well so far,” he said using a derogatory term for the radical group but adding that international pressure on the government was helping it’s morale.
“Instead of pressure the world should cooperate with us.”
Afghan foreign minister wants good relations, avoids firm commitment on girls’ education
https://arab.news/ba3tv
Afghan foreign minister wants good relations, avoids firm commitment on girls’ education
- Taliban have so far refused to give ground on allowing girls to return to high school
- A decision last month said schools above the sixth grade would only reopen for boys
Saudi ambassador becomes first foreign envoy to meet Bangladesh’s new PM
- Tarique Rahman took oath as PM last week after landslide election win
- Ambassador Abdullah bin Abiyah also meets Bangladesh’s new FM
Dhaka: Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Dhaka became on Sunday the first foreign envoy to meet Bangladesh’s new Prime Minister Tarique Rahman since he assumed the country’s top office.
Rahman’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party made a landslide win in the Feb. 12 election, securing an absolute majority with 209 seats in the 300-seat parliament.
The son of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and former President and BNP founder Ziaur Rahman, he was sworn in as the prime minister last week.
The Saudi government congratulated Rahman on the day he took the oath of office, and the Kingdom’s Ambassador Abdullah bin Abiyah was received by the premier in the Bangladesh Secretariat, where he also met Bangladesh’s new foreign minister.
“Among the ambassadors stationed in Dhaka, this is the first ambassadorial visit with Prime Minister Tarique Rahman since he assumed office,” Saleh Shibli, the prime minister’s press secretary, told Arab News.
“The ambassador conveyed greetings and best wishes to Bangladesh’s prime minister from the king and crown prince of Saudi Arabia … They discussed bilateral matters and ways to strengthen the ties among Muslim countries.”
Rahman’s administration succeeded an interim government that oversaw preparations for the next election following the 2024 student-led uprising, which toppled former leader Sheikh Hasina and ended her Awami League party’s 15-year rule.
New Cabinet members were sworn in during the same ceremony as the prime minister last week.
Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman is a former UN official who served as Bangladesh’s national security adviser during the interim government’s term.
He received Saudi Arabia’s ambassador after the envoy’s meeting with the prime minister.
“The foreign minister expressed appreciation for the Saudi leadership’s role in promoting peace and stability in the Middle East and across the Muslim Ummah. He also conveyed gratitude for hosting a large number of Bangladeshi workers in the Kingdom and underscored the significant potential for expanding cooperation across trade, investment, energy, and other priority sectors, leveraging the geostrategic positions of both countries,” the ministry said in a statement.
“The Saudi ambassador expressed his support to the present government and his intention to work with the government to enhance the current bilateral relationship to a comprehensive relationship.”
Around 3.5 million Bangladeshis live and work in Saudi Arabia. They have been joining the Saudi labor market since 1976, when work migration to the Kingdom was established during the rule of the new prime minister’s father.
Bangladeshis are the largest expat group in the Kingdom and the largest Bangladeshi community outside Bangladesh and send home more than $5 billion in remittances every year.
