At an indoor protest that took place on Monday in Ghazni, Takhar and Balkh provinces, a group of women and girls calling themselves the Purple Saturdays say the Taliban does not have the ability to govern the people of Afghanistan nor deal with the international community.
The protesters have urged the international community to support the human rights of women and girls in Afghanistan.
In a statement, they said that supporting the rights and freedom of Afghan citizens, especially women, and girls, should not lead to interaction with or recognition of the Taliban.
Their message calls for more support of Afghanistan by exerting more pressure on the Taliban, including keeping the names of its leaders on sanction lists. They ask the international community to not allow the Taliban to have access to frozen Afghan funds.
They have asked Qatar and its supporters not to intervene in Afghanistan’s affairs for the benefit of the Taliban and not to whitewash the dark actions of the group.
According to the protesters, interaction with the Taliban is akin to paying ransom to kidnappers. They want the international community to support the people of Afghanistan instead of supporting a single-ethnic and single-gender group and to provide the basis for the establishment of a democratic, decentralized government based on the will of the country’s citizens.
Amir Khan Motaqi, the acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Taliban was the head of a delegation due to talk with representatives of the US Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Doha, Qatar.
Neither the US State Department nor the Taliban Foreign Ministry have commented on the meetings.
