The United States will take steps to increase pressure on Afghanistan's Taliban government to reverse some of its recent decisions restricting the rights of women and girls if the hard-line group shows no sign of rescinding the actions on its own.
"We've addressed it directly with the Taliban," State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a briefing on Monday. "We have a number of tools that, if we feel these won't be reversed, these won't be undone, that we are prepared to move forward with."
He did not elaborate on the possible steps or indicate how the group, which has already implemented policies curbing 20 years of gains for girls' and women's rights, might have a change of heart.