Karzai: Restrictions on women hinder IEA’s international legitimacy — Pajhwok

KABUL (Pajhwok): Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said restrictions on girls’ education and women’s employment are making it more difficult for the Islamic Emirate to gain international legitimacy. The Straits Times, citing Bloomberg, reported that Karzai made the remarks in an interview with Bloomberg’s Mishal Husain programme. Karzai said he had maintained contact with Islamic Emirate officials since they returned to power and had repeatedly urged them to ease restrictions on women and girls whenever he had the opportunity. He said education and women’s participation in the workforce were important for Afghanistan’s future. “I have been doing this from the very beginning; I have spoken to them several times and stressed the importance of education for Afghanistan and the importance of women, who make up half of society, returning to work,” he was quoted as saying. Karzai said some Islamic Emirate officials understood the importance of the issue and shared his views on the matter. He added that international recognition and legitimacy of the Islamic Emirate were linked to meeting certain conditions, noting that the international community and the United Nations had repeatedly called for girls to be allowed to resume education and women to return to work. Karzai also called on Pakistan to establish “civilised relations” with Afghanistan instead of seeking to weaken the country.