International aid agencies, frustrated with the failure of more than a year of international isolation to budge the Taliban from their hard-line and misogynistic policies, are saying it is time for Western nations to send their diplomats back to the Afghan capital, Kabul. “We need the West to send their diplomats back to Afghanistan to engage with the country’s new rulers,” Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), tweeted Sunday after meeting Taliban officials in Kabul. “The Taliban would almost certainly see the return of U.S. diplomats as a signal that the U.S. was moving toward recognition. Inaccessible leaderU.S. and European officials accuse Taliban leaders of reneging on their previous commitments to women’s education and work rights. Even if Western diplomats return to Kabul, experts say, the reclusive leader will be an unlikely interlocutor hear their concerns and calls for greater rights for women.

Source: Washington Post January 12, 2023 20:16 UTC