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Global community to view Afghan women’s rights in talks with Taliban — Russian top senator

"We are closely following the situation in Afghanistan," Valentina Matviyenko said

MOSCOW, October 12. /TASS/. The international community will explore the possibility of cooperating with representatives of the Taliban radical group (outlawed in Russia), taking into account the position of women in Afghanistan, Speaker of the Federation Council (the upper house of Russia’s parliament) Valentina Matviyenko said on Tuesday.

"Everyone and, first of all, women are concerned over further developments in Afghanistan. We have grounds to be alarmed. I believe that the international community will consider the issues of possible cooperation with the Taliban taking into account the position of women in Afghanistan," Russia’s top senator said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 round-the-clock TV Channel.

"Given the presence of obvious facts of infringements on women’s rights and other factors of the oppression of women, I believe that this will seriously affect the formats of cooperation and the possibility of recognition. We are closely following the situation in Afghanistan," Matviyenko said.

A female representative of Afghanistan is due to speak at the upcoming 3rd Eurasian Women’s Forum in St. Petersburg, the upper house speaker said.

The Afghanistan independent human rights commission earlier accused the Taliban radical militant group, which had seized power in the country, of oppressing women and, in particular, of denying them the right to participate in public life and receive an education. The commission also said that Afghan women had no access to nutrition, civil rights, healthcare services and were not protected against discrimination.

The Taliban radical militant group launched a large-scale offensive to seize control of Afghanistan after the United States declared its intention in the spring of this year to withdraw its troops from the country. On August 15, the Taliban entered Kabul without encountering any resistance while Afghan President Ashraf Ghani stepped down and fled the country. The Taliban declared on September 6 that they had established control of the entire Afghan territory and on September 7 they announced an interim government in Afghanistan, which has not been recognized by any state so far.

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Afghanistan Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko

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