Members of Congress and members of the Trump administration sparred Thursday over the fate of women in Afghanistan under the U.S.-Taliban peace deal and amid a recent drawdown of U.S. troop numbers in Afghanistan.Rep. Stephen Lynch, the chairman of the Subcommittee on National Security, said during a hearing on women, peace and security that the Trump administration was letting the U.S. commitment to women and girls in Afghanistan “slip.” The Massachusetts Democrat criticized any U.S. assumptions that the Taliban would ever provide proper respect for females in the country as “the height of naivete or the willful abandonment of these women.””The peace deal negotiated between the United States and the Taliban earlier this year does nothing to protect the rights of Afghan women and girls, threatening to reverse nearly 20 years of progress helping them to become successful participants of Afghan political and civic life,” Lynch said.FILE – Then-U.N. Deputy Ambassador from U.S. Kelley Currie addresses the United Nations Security Council meeting at U.N. headquarters, April 17, 2018.She also pointed out that women hold two of Afghanistan’s most senior roles — ambassador to the U.S. and ambassador to the U.N. — and women comprise more than a quarter of Afghan lawmakers, a percentage that is higher than the FILE – U.S. infantrymen and Afghan Army commandos exit a U.S. Army helicopter in Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar province, Sept. 11, 2010.”It’s a little bit hypocritical on one hand to say, ‘American troops out of Iraq. American troops out of Afghanistan,’ and then complain when the human rights of people in general, women in particular, drop,” Grothman said.”You don’t have to stay in Afghanistan with a heavy troop presence in order to proffer the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan as an issue in the peace negotiations,” Lynch replied.The hearing comes as the top commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, U.S. Central Command head Gen. Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie, told VOA last week that before the U.S. could greatly reduce its presence in Afghanistan, inter-Afghan dialogues needed to start and the U.S. would need to be confident that the Taliban would not host terrorist groups.”Right now, it is simply unclear to me that the Taliban has taken any positive steps in that, in those areas,” McKenzie said.VOA Exclusive: CENTCOM Chief Says US Can Do Job in Iraq with Fewer ForcesGen. Kenneth ‘Frank’ McKenzie also told VOA that Afghan Taliban is not living up to peace commitments and that idea of Russian bounties on US troops is ‘morally abhorrent’ He told VOA the Taliban has not kept up their commitments agreed to in the U.S.-Taliban peace deal, which has led to one of the “most violent” periods of the war in Afghanistan.”While the Taliban have been scrupulous about not attacking U.S. or coalition forces, in fact the violence against the Afghans is higher than it’s been in quite a while,” McKenzie said.Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen later said his group was “fully committed” to the pact it signed with Washington.Increased Taliban attacks on Afghan security forces, particularly last week’s deadly suicide car bombing in northern Samangan province that killed nearly a dozen people and wounded more than 60 others, have drawn strong local and international condemnation.An Afghan military attack targeting the Taliban in Herat province on Wednesday also raised international concerns as reports surfaced that the air assault may have killed civilians. Following the strike, Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad tweeted for “all sides to contain the violence, protect civilians, and show necessary restraint as the start of intra-Afghan negotiations is so close.”Roshan Noorzai, Khalil Noorzai and Ayaz Gul contributed to this report.
 
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