Qatar to stand with Afghan women amid ‘irrational’ restrictions

Qatar has vowed to stand with Afghan women amid the “irrational” restrictions imposed on them by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, Qatar’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said on Tuesday.

In an interview with CNBC Middle East, Sheikh Mohammed said Qatar has been reaching out to the IEA government to understand the rationale behind the restrictive policies towards women and girls.

The top diplomat said Doha is currently involved in consultations with other Muslim nations to “deal” with the situation.

“It’s just more and more provoking and making the situation much worse for them and for the Afghan people, we’ve been trying to reach out recently after these decisions take place. We’ve been trying also through other means jointly with other Muslim countries to talk to them and to go together,” Sheikh Mohammed said.

This comes after the IEA imposed a ban on women and girls attending university late last year, as well as a ban on women working for NGOs.