| NEW DELHI, Sep 18: In an apparent bid to derail the on-going peace negotiations between the Afghanistan government and the Taliban, some extremist groups are believed to be planning to launch indiscriminate terror attacks at various places and may particularly target the women, the US embassy sources in Kabul said.
The US embassy issued a warning late Thursday night but does not specify the organization plotting the attacks. The warning comes when Taliban and government-appointed negotiators are sitting together for the first time to try to find a peaceful end to decades of relentless war. The Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed said “Taliban don’t have any plans to carry out any such attacks,” According to the embassy warning, “extremist organizations continue to plan attacks against a variety of targets in Afghanistan, including a heightened risk of attacks targeting female, government and civilian workers, including teachers, human rights activists, office workers, and government employees.” Afghanistan’s strong voice for women’s rights and one of the government appointed peace negotiators Fawzia Koofi was shot last month in Afghanistan. The Taliban instantly denied the responsibility of this incident. Washington’s peace envoy and Afghan American diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad said “spoilers existed on both sides.” He said some among Afghanistan’s many leaders “would be content to continue with the status quo rather than find a peaceful end to the war that might involve power sharing,” When the Taliban was in power, girls were not allowed to study and women were not allowed to work outside their home. The Taliban was immensely criticised for that. In 2001, the US destroyed Al-Qaeda which was responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States. As per the Women, Peace and Security Index report 2018, Afghanistan was the second worst place in the world for women after Syria. Only 16% of the labour force was women, one of the lowest rates in the world, and half of Afghanistan’s women have had four years or less of education. According to UNICEF report, nearly 60% of girls are married before they are 19, on average between 15 and 16 years old, to spouses selected by their parents. (Vinayak Barot) |
