TOKYO: Japan urged the Taliban government to respect human rights during a rare diplomatic meeting with a senior member of the visiting Afghan delegation, Tokyo said Wednesday.
“Several” high-ranking Taliban officials have been invited by the Nippon Foundation, the Tokyo-based non-profit told AFP, reportedly on a week-long trip.
It is the first time that members of the Taliban government have visited Japan since their 2021 takeover in Afghanistan.
Toshihide Ando, head of the Japanese foreign ministry’s Middle Eastern and African affairs bureau, met a senior Taliban delegate on Tuesday, a ministry official told AFP.
He “encouraged them to respect human rights and promote an inclusive political process”, they said.
The Taliban authorities have imposed a harsh interpretation of Islamic law on the population, including the return of public floggings and executions.
Women have been barred from education, work and many public spaces in what the United Nations has described as “gender apartheid”.
The ministry declined to identify the Taliban official who met Ando, but Afghan media have said the group includes those overseeing higher education and foreign affairs policies.
The Taliban government makes regular visits to neighbouring and regional countries, including in Central Asia, Russia and China.
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