China and Iran have called on Afghanistan, a neighbouring country, to lift its women’s employment and education restrictions.
The request was made in a joint statement released on Thursday at the close of the visit by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to Beijing. In the report, the two sides reaffirmed their close political and economic ties and their opposition to Western standards of democracy and human rights.
Since the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021, the de facto authorities have issued several decrees restricting Afghan women and girls from attending education and work and putting them in complete isolation.
The first decree banning education by the Taliban –led government limited girls’ schools not beyond the sixth grade. The subsequent order further restricted women from higher education and working with international aid organizations.
The decree comes as the international community and aid organizations have repeatedly called on the Taliban government to lift the bans on the rights of Afghan women and girls to attend education and work.
The gender-based restriction has had a negative impact; thousands of women have lost their jobs and were forced to resign from government, private and international aid organizations. On the other hand, it disrupts the average pace of aid organizations’ work in the country as most of them, with female employees, would be able to continue their work there.
In addition, China and Iran also called on the de facto government in Afghanistan to form an inclusive government including all ethnic groups, political parties, gender and other religions and minorities in the country.
The statement also said that the current situation in Afghanistan is the result of the US and its NATO allies’ negligence and “should be responsible for the current situation in Afghanistan.”
Meanwhile, during this two-day visit of Raisi to China, one of the critical agendas would be the 25-year cooperation agreement, in which Beijing is reportedly considering making long-term investments of up to $400 billion in various sectors of the Iranian economy, from infrastructure to oil and gas, in exchange for supplies of Iranian crude, was signed in 2021 but has not yet been operationalized.
