Taliban hold first talks in Europe since Afghan takeover - Associated Press

Ahead of the talks, western diplomats met with Afghan women’s rights activists and human rights defenders to about their demands and assessment of the current situation on the ground.

Standing silent as attendees gathered, women’s rights activist Heda Khamoush, who lives in Kabul, held up the photos of Tamana Zaryabi Paryani and Parwana Ibrahimkhel, two women arrested by the Taliban last week following an anti-Taliban protest against the compulsory Islamic headscarf, or hijab, for women.

The three-day talks opened on Sunday with direct meetings between the Taliban and civil society representatives.

Muttaqi said most of the civil servants who have returned to work are from the previous government and about 15,000 women are working in the health and education sectors.

There has been no decision yet he said on more women in the government work force.

The talks come at a crucial time for Afghanistan as freezing temperatures are compounding misery from the downward spiral that has come with the fall of the U.S.-backed government and the Taliban takeover.

Faced with the Taliban’s request for funds, Western powers are likely to put the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan high on their agenda, along with the West’s recurring demand for the Taliban administration to share power with Afghanistan’s minority ethnic and religious groups.

The Taliban have increasingly targeted Afghanistan’s beleaguered rights groups, as well as journalists, detaining and sometimes beating television crews covering demonstrations.

Special Representative for Afghanistan Tom West welcomed talks between Taliban and the country’s civil society representatives and said “we will continue clear-eyed diplomacy with the Taliban regarding our concerns and our abiding interest in a stable, rights-respecting and inclusive Afghanistan.”