China, Iran call on Afghanistan to end restrictions on women

BEIJING (AP) — China and Iran have called on mutual neighbor Afghanistan to end restrictions on women’s work and education. The call came in a joint statement issued Thursday at the close of a visit to Beijing by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi during which the sides affirmed close economic and political ties and their rejection of Western standards of human rights and democracy. Since taking over Afghanistan in August 2021, the Taliban has banned women and girls from universities and schools after the sixth grade and forced out those in elected offices and other prominent positions. Iran’s hardline Shiite Muslim regime has also been challenged by weeks of protests sparked by the death of a young woman in police custody for allegedly violating clothing requirements.