German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Wednesday that the Taliban “have decided to destroy their own country’s future” by barring Afghan women from universities and said she will raise the issue with the G7.
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“By destroying the future of girls and women in Afghanistan, the Taliban have chosen to destroy the future of their own country. I will put the issue on the G7 agenda tomorrow,” the minister, whose country will chair the G7 until the end of the year, wrote on Twitter. “The world is watching,” she added, addressing Afghan officials.
German diplomacy did not set the framework for this discussion of the seven powerful countries (USA, Germany, Canada, France, Great Britain, Japan and Italy). A phone meeting could be organised, a source familiar with the matter told AFP.
On Tuesday, the Taliban authorities sent a letter to all state and private universities in the country, saying that Afghan universities would be banned for girls who were already deprived of secondary education.
As part of the ruling, armed guards on Wednesday prevented hundreds of young women from entering university campuses in Afghanistan.