US Special Representative for Afghanistan Travels to Pakistan, Germany, Switzerland

United States Special Representative for Afghanistan Thomas West will travel to Pakistan, Germany, and Switzerland to consult with partners, Afghans, and humanitarian aid organizations about the shared interests in Afghanistan.

Thomas West’s week-long (January 29 – February 4) visit to Pakistan, Germany, and Switzerland is aimed at consulting with partners and Afghan diasporas on the many challenges the people of Afghanistan, women, and girls in particular are currently going through under the Taliban regime.  

According to political experts protecting U.S. national interests is of paramount importance to the American diplomat, which will be the focus of the discussion during his week-long travel to Europe and Asia on top of other subjects to be b discussed.

With American forces gone, the U.S. does not want China, its new rival to exploit Afghanistan’s rich mineral resources or Russia, its old enemy to have a greater stake in matters of the war-torn country.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s de facto authorities’ recent decrees have not only disappointed the international community and aid organizations but also made it extremely difficult to continue delivering aid to needy families across the country.

Depriving Afghan women and girls of attending educational institutions, workplaces and the public environment is of great concern. Violating the rights of 50 percent of the country’s population is a critical challenge, which needs a unified regional and international response.

Foreign governments and international aid organizations have repeatedly called on the Islamic Emirate authorities to reverse the decision and allow Afghan women and girls to attend education, work, sports, and public life, however, nothing has changed for the better so far.  

Worst of all, the ban on women employees of non-governmental aid organizations has interrupted aid distribution to vulnerable families across the country during these difficult times. A considerable number of aid organizations have set the return of their female employees as a precondition to the resumptions of their much-needed operations in Afghanistan.

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Source: The Khaama Press News Agency