Afghanistan Peace CampaignSpeaking to TOLOnews, Rubin said the closure of girls’ schools is unacceptable for the United States, Afghanistan’s neighbors and the international community.
Barnett Rubin, an Afghanistan expert with the Center on International Cooperation, said girls’ schools should be reopened in Afghanistan and women’s rights should be protected to become a member of the international community.
Speaking to TOLOnews, Rubin said the closure of girls’ schools is unacceptable for the United States, Afghanistan’s neighbors and the international community.
“Afghanistan is the only country in the world where girls are prevented from going to school and that is something not acceptable to the international community and not just to the United States but to any of Afghanistan’s neighbors, to the United Nations, the humanitarian organizations, and if Afghanistan wants to be a member of the international community, it cannot continue that policy,” he said.
Rubin said that it is a crucial issue that girls are not permitted to attend school.
“I was just talking about girls not being allowed to go to school, that is a very important issue, but it is not one of the reasons given in the UN security council resolution for imposing the sanctions, those are other reasons. So, we have to actually look at the text of the sanctions resolution and try to resolve the problems that were designated in the resolution not just by the United States,” he said.
But the Islamic Emirate said that all issues should be resolved through negotiation and that relations with the international community should be unconditional.
“Relationships and interactions should be unconditional and based on respect for one another. It shouldn’t be connected to conditions that involve our nation’s internal issues,” said Bilal Karimi, deputy spokesman of the Islamic Emirate.
“The Islamic Emirate is open to dialogue and understanding on all matters that relate to our nation’s external dimensions and are taken into account by other countries, and we firmly believe that through these two channels, all difficulties and worries we currently face in relation to our nation’s foreign policy will be resolved,” he added.
Secondary schools for girls are closed for more than a year and if things keep going this way, maybe no female student will be able to attend the university entrance exam next year.