Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Taliban's Foreign Minister, met with Afnan Al-Shuaiby, Executive Director of the Women's Development Organisation, on the sidelines of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting in Cameroon.
This meeting comes amid the enforcement of a new "Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice" law that criminalises looking at and speaking to "non-mahram" women.
On Friday, August 30, the OIC reported that Muttaqi met with Tarig Ali Bakheet, OIC Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Afghanistan; Koutoub Moustapha Sano, International Islamic Fiqh Academy; and Afnan Al-Shuaiby during the 50th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers.
The OIC stated that during the meeting, discussions focused on girls' education and the participation of Afghan women in public life, in accordance with the organisation's resolutions.
This meeting took place as the new "Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice" law, recently signed by Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, declared women's voices as “awrah” (intimate par to body) and criminalised looking at or speaking with non-mahram women.
According to this law, even a woman's voice during Quran recitation is considered “awrah”.
The OIC reported that the discussions with Amir Khan Muttaqi covered topics such as tolerance, moderation in Islam, women's education, and participation in public life. However, it was not specified whether the new law was addressed in these talks.
