The Taliban’s move of banning girls from secondary education is "a step backward", Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammad bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said, terming it “disappointing”  and said that the group can learn from Qatar how to run an Islamic system.

“We need to keep engaging them and urging them not to take such actions, and we have also been trying to demonstrate for the Taliban how Muslim countries can conduct their laws, how they can deal with the women’s issues,” Al-Thani said in Doha on Thursday in a joint press conference with EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrel.

He further said they (the Taliban) can use Qatar as a model of an Islamic system in treating women and girls. He also called on the international community to engage with the government in Kabul.

“One of the examples is the State of Qatar, which is a Muslim country; our system is an Islamic system, we have women outnumbering men in workforces, in government, and in higher education,” he said. 

He also called on the Taliban to preserve the gains made in the past two decades, adding that the international community should support maintaining the achievements by engaging with the group. 

(SAM)