‘Taliban need more time on girls’ education’

DOHA: Afghanistan’s acting foreign minister has appealed to the world for good relations but avoided making firm commitments on girls’ education, despite international demands to allow all Afghan children to go back to school.

“The international community need to start cooperating with us,” acting Foreign Minister Mullah Amir Khan Muttaqi said at an event organised by the Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies on Monday.

“With this, we will be able to stop insecurity and at the same time with this, we will be able to engage positively with the world,” reports the international media. Muttaqi said the Taliban’s Islamic Emirate government was moving carefully but had only been in power for a few weeks and could not be expected to complete reforms the international community had been unable to implement in 20 years.

“They had a lot of financial resources and they had a strong international backing and support but at the same time you are asking us to do all the reforms in two months?” he said.