Taliban rule will bring women right back the ground
WASHINGTON: If Taliban rule returns in Afghanistan risk undoing the gains made in women’s rights since the group’s ousting nearly two decades ago.
According to the two-page National Intelligence Council document, the insurgents’ views have not changed since their time in power between 1996 and the US military’s 2001 intervention.
At that time, the Taliban imposed their fundamentalist view of religion by prohibiting women from studying or working.
The withdrawal of US and international forces, which is set to be completed by September, has raised fears the Taliban will return full force.
“The Taliban remains broadly consistent in its restrictive approach to women’s rights and would roll back much of the past two decades’ progress if the group regained national power,” the report said.
It notes the group has seen little change in its leadership, remains “inflexible” in negotiations and “enforces strict social constraints in areas that it already controls.”
Some group leaders have made public commitments to respecting women’s rights, but only as a condition of the Taliban’s fundamentalist interpretation of Sharia law, or Islamic law, according to the report.
“If the Taliban were again Afghanistan’s dominant power, we assess that any prospect for moderating the group’s policies toward women would lie with ethnic minorities’ ability to maintain local variation and technological development,” the report said, referring to the greater exposure to the world Afghans have gotten due to cell phones.
According to the report authors, the progress of the last 20 years is fragile and imbalanced, and depends heavily on international pressure, suggesting that such development would be “at risk” after the withdrawal of foreign forces, “even without Taliban efforts to reverse it.”
External pressure could continue to play a role, and “the Taliban’s desires for foreign aid and legitimacy might marginally moderate its conduct over time,” the report said.
But should the group return to power, its first priority would likely be “extending control on its own terms.”
- Aluminium originating from China will be continued to charge duties.
Vietnam on Tuesday decided to keep anti-dumping duty on aluminium from China.
Anti-dumping duties on certain aluminium products originating from China will be continue to impose by the Ministry of Industry and Trade. With a tax rate from 4.39 per cent to 35.58 per cent after carrying out the first review, reported Vietnam News.
Earlier on September 28 last year, the Ministry had issued a decision to impose anti-dumping duties on some aluminium products originating from China with a rate from 2.49 per cent to 35.58 per cent.
The Ministry initiated the investigation into the anti-dumping case in January 2019 and found that it has hit the domestic aluminium industry.
Specifically, most domestic producers suffered losses, many production lines had to stop operating and a large number of workers lost jobs due to dumping of aluminium products originating from China at margins of 2.49 per cent to 35.58 per cent, reported Vietnam News.
In mid-2020, the Ministry received an inquiry to conduct the first review on anti-dumping duties on Chinese aluminium products.
After the review, the ministry issued a decision on April 20 this year which took effect five days later to continue levying anti-dumping duty on some aluminium products originating from China, reported Vietnam News.
On the same day, the ministry also issued a decision after carrying out the first review about the imposition of anti-dumping duty on some painted flat-rolled alloy and non-alloy steel products originating from China and the Republic of Korea.
Accordingly, the anti-dumping duties of 2.56 per cent to 34.27 per cent were imposed, reported Vietnam News.
