Human Rights Watch says reconciliation with Taliban could harm Afghan women

LONDON - US-based campaign group Human Rights Watch has said that it would be inadvisable to engage the Taliban in talks, as doing so could cause irreversible harm to women in Afghanistan.

It claims that after the Taliban was driven from power in 2001, women in Afghanistan, even in conservative areas in the south, returned to jobs as teachers, civil servants and health workers, and now if that group returned to power, the levels of intimidation against women would only increase.

According to the BBC, the 70-page report titled The Ten-Dollar Talib and Women’s Rights warns that President Hamid Karzai’s government may be willing to compromise on women’s rights as part of any deal with the insurgents.

“Afghan women want an end to the conflict. But as the prospect of negotiations with the Taliban draws closer, many women fear that they may also pay a heavy price for peace,” the report says.

“Reconciliation with the Taliban, a group synonymous with misogynous policies and the violent repression of women, raises serious concerns about the possible erosion of recently gained rights and freedoms,” it adds.

The Human Rights Watch report documents cases where religious police gave harsh beatings to women they found to be inappropriately dressed and teenage girls were forbidden to attend school.

Women teachers and others lost their jobs, it adds. (ANI)