Afghans are ready to welcome the Taliban into the society, but not at the cost of women’s rights, First Lady Rula Ghani said on Monday.
She said this while speaking at a virtual meeting held by the UN Security Council in the Arria-formula on women and the Afghan peace process.
Rula Ghani insisted that the Taliban could not re-impose their rule by violence and had to recognize that the Afghan society had changed since 2001.
Women would remain central to peace now, including as members of the Afghan negotiating team, she said.
Meanwhile, Habiba Sarabi, a member of the negotiating team, said that the team would be committed to an Afghanistan in which the rights of women are respected and promoted and in which the intrinsic values of a free and participatory republic with its institutions are maintained and protected.
UN envoy to Afghanistan, Deborah Lyons, said that any compromise or step backwards will not go unnoticed and that all will be held to account for the part they play.
Qatar’s envoy to UN, Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif Al-Thani, stressed that without the participation of women, a peace settlement on a large scale would be less likely.
She stressed the need to consolidate the achievements made so far in the field of empowering Afghan women and protecting their rights and interests, especially in the near future, as Afghanistan advances towards peace and development and the promotion and protection of human rights for all.
Afghan envoy to UN, Adela Raz, said that the meeting embodied that together with the international community Afghanistan will achieve a peace that is equitable, just, and which puts women and girls at the center.
