UN urges Afghanistan’s Taliban to reverse bans on women

By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council has unanimously approved a resolution calling on Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to swiftly reverse their increasingly harsh restrictions on women and girls. Those include severely restricting education to banning women from most jobs, public spaces and gyms. The resolution urges all other U.N. member nations to use their influence to promote “an urgent reversal” of the Taliban’s policies and practices toward women and girls. In Afghanistan, a prominent figure in the Taliban denounced the Security Council’s “failed policy” of pressure. The resolution was co-sponsored by the United Arab Emirates and Japan.