EU-Central Asia meeting calls for lifting bans on Afghan girls and women

EU and Central Asia special envoys for Afghanistan met Friday in Turkmenistan capital Ashgabat, where they also called on the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) to lift all bans on girls and women restricting their rights to education, work and participation in public life.

In a joint statement, the envoy said that these bans have “detrimental effects on the ability of the international community to deliver humanitarian aid to the Afghan people, and need to be lifted for the Afghan economy to prosper, and ultimately for Afghanistan to achieve long-term stability and peace.”

They also underlined the importance of the establishment of an inclusive and representative government and of upholding civil, political, social economic and cultural rights of all Afghans.

The participants called on the IEA to prevent the Afghan territory from being used as a safe haven for hosting, planning, training, financing or exporting terrorism and violent extremism to other countries.

“Negative spill-over effects from Afghanistan, such as terrorism, violent extremism, drug trafficking and other illicit crossborder activities, will negatively impact the region,” the statement said.

It also said that the use of shared natural resources  has to take the needs of all neighbours into account. 

The envoys discussed prospects and challenges for economic stabilization and recovery of Afghanistan, noting the importance of favourable conditions for economic activity, the financial and banking sector and the restoration of social-economic infrastructure in Afghanistan being created, which would allow for further assistance by the international community.