DOHA: UN chief Antonio Guterres made a new attack on the Taliban government’s “unprecedented” curbs on Afghan women’s rights Tuesday as he highlighted international fears over stability in the crisis-stricken state.
The United Nations is reviewing its Afghan operations after the Taliban authorities banned women working for aid agencies, but Guterres said leading powers at a two-day meeting in Doha wanted new efforts to try to change its policies.
The review will only be completed on Friday and the UN has said it faces an “appalling choice” over whether to stay in Afghanistan.
But Guterres told a press conference: “Throughout the past decades, we stayed, and we delivered. And we are determined to seek the necessary conditions to keep delivering.”
He added: “To achieve our objectives we cannot disengage and many (in the meeting) called for engagement to be more effective.”
The UN secretary general called the talks to seek new ways to pressure the Taliban government after it banned Afghan women from working for UN agencies and NGOs.
That added to international outrage after they were also barred from almost all secondary and university education and most government jobs.
The talks involved envoys from the United States, Russia, China and 20 other countries and organizations, including major European donors and neighbors such as Pakistan.
Taliban authorities were not invited however and Guterres said he was not ready to meet them “today,” though he did not discount a future meeting.
The head of the Taliban representative office in Doha, Suhail Shaheen, said that excluding a representative at the meeting could prove “counter-productive.”
“Putting pressure doesn’t help in solution of issues,” Shaheen told AFP in a written statement.
“The world should listen to us. By denying our legitimate rights and not inviting us to meetings about Afghanistan or not listening to us, they neither can change the reality which is IEA (the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan) nor can find a palatable solution which is a need.”
The UN secretary general said countries at the talks had raised fears over rights, “the persistent presence of terrorist organizations” and drug trafficking.
“The participants are worried about the stability of Afghanistan and expressed those serious concerns.”
Guterres said the “unacceptable” ban on women taking part in aid agency work “puts lives in jeopardy” because of their vital role.
“We will never be silent in the face of unprecedented and systemic attacks on women and girls’ rights,” said Guterres.
“Millions of women and girls are being silenced and erased from sight,” he added. The ban was a violation of Afghanistan’s “obligations under international law.”
The Taliban government has firmly rejected criticism of the curbs on women, calling them an “internal social issue.”
No country has established formal ties with the Taliban government since it returned to power in August 2021.
One envoy who attended the Doha talks said “no country present indicated that it was ready to form any kind of ties.”
The meeting of the 23 countries and international institutions was held amid mounting problems for the country of 38 million people suffering worsening shortages because international supplies have slowed.
“It is difficult to overestimate the gravity of the situation in Afghanistan today,” said Guterres.
Six million people are “one step away from famine-like conditions” and funding has “evaporated,” he added. A UN appeal for $4.6 billion for its relief operation has raised only $294 million.
Meanwhile, Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi will go to Islamabad at the end of the week for talks with Pakistani and Chinese officials, his ministry said.
Muttaqi is subject to a UN travel ban, but has previously been given exemptions for official visits to the neighboring country.
UN leader slams Taliban over women’s rights amid stability fears
https://arab.news/93ex9
UN leader slams Taliban over women’s rights amid stability fears
- UN is reviewing its Afghan operations after Taliban banned women from working for aid agencies
- UN chief called meeting of international envoys in Doha to find ways to put pressure on Taliban
Shooter kills 9 at Canadian school and residence
- The shooter was found dead with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound
- A total of 27 people were wounded in the shooting, including two with serious injuries
TORONTO: A shooter killed nine people and wounded dozens more at a secondary school and a residence in a remote part of western Canada on Tuesday, authorities said, in one of the deadliest mass shootings in the country’s history.
The suspect, described by police in an initial emergency alert as a “female in a dress with brown hair,” was found dead with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, officials said.
The attack occurred in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, a picturesque mountain valley town in the foothills of the Rockies.
A total of 27 people were wounded in the shooting, including two with serious injuries, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a statement.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was “devastated” by the “horrific acts of violence” and announced he was suspending plans to travel to the Munich Security Conference on Wednesday, where he had been set to hold talks with allies on transatlantic defense readiness.
Police said an alert was issued about an active shooter at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School on Tuesday afternoon.
As police searched the school, they found six people shot dead. A seventh person with a gunshot wound died en route to hospital.
Separately, police found two more bodies at a residence in the town.
The residence is “believed to be connected to the incident,” police said.
At the school, “an individual believed to be the shooter was also found deceased with what appears to be a self?inflicted injury,” police said.
Police have not yet released any information about the age of the shooter or the victims.
“We are devastated by the loss of life and the profound impact this tragedy has had on families, students, staff, and our entire town,” the municipality of Tumbler Ridge said in a statement.
Tumbler Ridge student Darian Quist told public broadcaster CBC that he was in his mechanics class when there was an announcement that the school was in lockdown.
He said that initially he “didn’t think anything was going on,” but started receiving “disturbing” photos about the carnage.
“It set in what was happening,” Quist said.
He said he stayed in lockdown for more than two hours until police stormed in, ordering everyone to put their hands up before escorting them out of the school.
Trent Ernst, a local journalist and a former substitute teacher at Tumbler Ridge, expressed shock over the shooting at the school, where one of his children has just graduated.
He noted that school shootings have been a rarity occurring every few years in Canada compared with the United States, where they are far more frequent.
“I used to kind of go: ‘Look at Canada, look at who we are.’ But then that one school shooting every 2.5 years happens in your town and things... just go off the rails,” he told AFP.
‘Heartbreak’
While mass shootings are extremely rare in Canada, last April, a vehicle attack that targeted a Filipino cultural festival in Vancouver killed 11 people.
British Columbia Premier David Eby called the latest violence “unimaginable.”
Nina Krieger, British Columbia’s minister of public safety, said it was “one of the worst mass shootings in our province’s and country’s history.”
The Canadian Olympic Committee, whose athletes are competing in the 2026 Winter Games in Italy, said Wednesday it was “heartbroken by the news of the horrific school shooting.”
Ken Floyd, commander of the police’s northern district, said: “This has been an incredibly difficult and emotional day for our community, and we are grateful for the cooperation shown as officers continue their work to advance the investigation.”
Floyd told reporters the shooter was the same suspect police described as “female” in a prior emergency alert to community members, but declined to provide any details on the suspect’s identity.
The police said officers were searching other homes and properties in the community to see if there were additional sites connected to the incident.
Tumbler Ridge, a quiet town with roughly 2,400 residents, is more than 1,100 kilometers (680 miles) north of Vancouver, British Columbia’s largest city.
“There are no words sufficient for the heartbreak our community is experiencing tonight,” the municipality said.
