PremiumUS Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday said that the Taliban are trying to sentence Afghanistan's women "to a dark future without opportunity" by banning them from attending universities.
“Taliban have tried to sentence Afghan women to a dark future without opportunities. No country will be able to succeed much less thrive if half of its population doesn't have the opportunity to contribute," the US Secretary of State said on Thursday.
Speaking in an end of the year news conference, Blinken said the Taliban-run administration will fail in its efforts to improve relations with the rest of the world unless the militants reverse the ban.
"There are going to be costs if this is not reversed," he said of the ban announced on Tuesday.
Blinken on Thursday also said that Russia has shown no real interest in ending the war in Ukraine, as President Vladimir Putin called for the conflict to end 'sooner.'
"Fundamentally right now, Russia has shown no interest in meaningful diplomacy" to end the war, Blinken told a news conference.
The White House had said on Thursday that the Wagner Group, a private Russian military company, has taken delivery of an arms shipment from North Korea to help bolster its forces as it fights side-by-side with Russian troops in Ukraine.
On the current global Covid surge, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that it is important for all countries, including China, to share information with the world about what they're experiencing with Covid-19, as some health experts have questioned whether China might be hiding information on the extent of its outbreak.
China to date has not asked for help from the United States with Covid-19, Blinken told reporters at a press briefing, adding that Washington is prepared to provide help to any country that asks for it.