Qatar FM calls ban on girls edu a step backward

KABUL (Tolo News): Qatar Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammad bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said the Islamic Emirate’s move in banning the women and girls from education is a step backward, adding that the Islamic Emirate can learn from Qatar how to run an Islamic system.

At a joint press conference with European Union Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrel in Doha, Al-Thani said the move for banning girls’ education is disappointing. “The recent actions that we have seen unfortunately in Afghanistan, it has been very disappointing to see some steps being taken backwards,” Al-Thani said.

Al-Thani added that the Islamic Emirate can use Qatar as a model of an Islamic system in treating women and girls. He also called on the international community to engage with the government in Kabul.

“We need to keep engaging them and urging them not to take such actions, and we have also been trying to demonstrate for the Taliban how Muslim countries can conduct their laws, how they can deal with the women’s issues. One of the examples is the State of Qatar, which is a Muslim country; our system is an Islamic system, we have women outnumbering men in workforces, in government and in higher education,” he said. Al-Thani called on the Taliban to preserve the gains made in the past two decades adding that the international community should support maintaining the achievements by engaging with the Islamic Emirate.