As long as restrictions against women's rights remain in place in Afghanistan, it will be "nearly impossible" for the international community to recognize the Taliban government, the U.N.'s envoy to the country said Wednesday.
"In my regular discussions with the de facto authorities, I am blunt about the obstacles they have created for themselves by the decrees and restrictions they have enacted, in particular against women and girls," Roza Otunbayeva, head of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, told the Security Council.
"The Taliban ask to be recognized by the United Nations and its members, but at the same time they act against the key values expressed in the United Nations Charter," she said.