The United States is imposing new visa restrictions on certain current and former Taliban (the movement outlawed in Russia) members, non-state security group members and others who are believed to be involved in repressing the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced.
The announcement comes more than a month after the Taliban announced bans on women attending universities and working with non-governmental organizations. Blinken cited those decisions as contributing to the new visa bans and said the U.S. condemns the actions in “the strongest of terms.”
“The Taliban’s most recent edicts ban women from universities and from working with NGOs, and further the Taliban’s previous measures that closed secondary schools to girls and limit the ability of women and girls to participate in the Afghan society and economy,” Blinken said in a State Department statement.
