China and Iran have urged neighboring Afghanistan to end restrictions on women’s work and education.
The call came in a joint statement issued on Thursday at the end of a visit to Beijing by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi during which the two sides affirmed close economic and political ties and their rejection of Western standards of human rights and democracy.
Since taking control of Afghanistan in August 2021, the Taliban have banned women and girls from universities and schools after the sixth grade and expelled those in elected and other prominent positions.
“The two sides… called on the Afghan rulers to form an inclusive government in which all ethnic and political groups genuinely participate, and to end all discriminatory measures against women, ethnic minorities and other religions,” the president said. statement, adding that the United States and its NATO allies “should be held accountable for the current situation in Afghanistan.”
The United States had backed Afghanistan’s elected government against the Taliban, but withdrew amid rising costs and dwindling domestic support for a government that was unable to counter the Taliban’s resurgence.
The call for women’s rights is remarkable as it comes from Iran’s hardline Shi’ite Muslim regime, which has been defied by months of protests sparked by the death of a young woman in police custody for allegedly violating clothing requirements. .
The country’s theocracy has executed at least four men since protests began in September over the death of Mahsa Amini. All have faced fast-paced and internationally criticized closed-door trials.
Most of the China-Iran joint statement emphasized strong political and economic ties, the pursuit of peace and justice in the Middle East, and denuclearization despite Tehran’s alleged campaign to produce atomic weapons.
In an earlier meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Raisi expressed his support for China’s crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong and the demand for an autonomous democratic Taiwan.
China and Iran present themselves, along with Moscow, as checks and balances on American power, and have provided tacit and, in the case of Iran, material support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“China supports Iran in safeguarding national sovereignty” and “resisting unilateralism and intimidation,” Xi said in a statement carried by Chinese state television on its website.
Xi and Raisi attended the signing of 20 cooperation agreements, including on trade and tourism, the Chinese government announced. Those come on top of a 25-year strategy agreement signed in 2021 to cooperate on developing oil, industry and other fields.
China is one of the largest buyers of Iranian oil and a major source of investment.
Iran has struggled for years under trade and financial sanctions imposed by Washington and other Western governments. The US government cut off Iran’s access to the network connecting global banks in 2018.
