In a risible announcement, Communist China (which has its own problems with women’s rights), and Islamic Iran (which is in the throes of an uprising over the murder of young woman who didn’t wear her hijab properly), are calling upon Afghanistan to ease up on women and “end restrictions.” And in mockery of the West — which has piled on since Joe Biden came to power, “the call came in a joint statement Thursday issued at the close of a visit to Beijing by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi during which the two sides affirmed close economic and political ties and their rejection of Western standards of human rights and democracy.”
The two authoritarian states are in the process of strengthening ties, and issued statements regarding, among other issues, “the quest for peace and justice in the Middle East.” The “peace in the Middle East” that they envision, of course, would come at the expense of Israel.
“China, Iran call on Afghanistan to end restrictions on women,” Associated Press, February 16, 2023:
BEIJING – China and Iran have urged mutual neighbour Afghanistan to end restrictions on women’s work and education.
The call came in a joint statement Thursday issued at the close of a visit to Beijing by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi during which the two 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.
“The two sides … called on the Afghan rulers to form an inclusive government in which all ethnic groups and political groups actually participate, and cancel all discriminatory measures against women, ethnic minorities and other religions,” the statement said, adding that the U.S. and its NATO allies “should be responsible for the current situation in Afghanistan.”
The U.S. had backed Afghanistan’s elected government against the Taliban, but withdrew amid the rising costs and dwindling domestic support for a government that was unable to counter a Taliban revival.
The call for women’s rights is notable coming from Iran’s hardline Shiite Muslim regime, which has been challenged by months of protests sparked by the death of a young woman in police custody for allegedly violating clothing requirements.
The country’s theocracy has executed at least four men since the demonstrations began in September over the death of Mahsa Amini. All have faced internationally criticized, rapid, closed-door trials.
The bulk of the China-Iran joint statement emphasized strong political and economic ties, the quest for peace and justice in the Middle East and denuclearization in spite of Tehran’s alleged drive to produce atomic weapons.
In a meeting earlier with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Raisi expressed support for China’s crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong and claim to self-ruling democratic Taiwan.
China and Iran portray themselves, alongside Moscow, as counterweights to American power, and have given tacit, and in Iran’s case, material support to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine….
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Iran, of all countries, criticizing the Taliban for women’s rights, is absolutely laughable! The Taliban should call Iran kafir, waving the fact that they are shi’a in their faces 😈 and just wave the quran in their faces. They don’t even need to bring up all the women being slaughtered in Iran, since both are about equally awful on that front
As far as Beijing goes, they could tell the Chicoms to learn from them how to harness women for breeding – something that the Chicoms are desperately interested in. Maybe the Taliban can teach Beijing that they don’t need registries of women of breeding age – something Beijing maintains in case it wants to force its people to have 3 kids, up from 1 or 2 now
Kepha says
China has problems with women’s rights? IMPOSSIBLE!!!!! Every American feminist who visited China in the wake of Trickie Dickie’s visit was utterly charmed by and fulsomely praised both Zhou Enlai (stirng of bastards across Europe from his radical student days) and Mao Zedong (who discarded women and offspring the way other men change their underwear)–especially due to the latter’s dictum that women hold up half the sky. Surely these great progressive icons must be sincere in their protestations about women’s equality!!!
As for Iran, well, it’s a proud, Third World Country recovering its authentic self–including its Shi’ah ‘ulema working out their undying hatred for their Sunni counterparts over in Kabul and Qandahar.. As for the women of Iran, they proudly marched in their angry-nun-hejabs shouting “marg bar Amrika!” in order to obtain their authentic liberation from oppression. They wanted the mullah-ocracy, so please don’t ask Uncle Kepha to feel the slightest bit chivalrous about their plight.
If Beijing and Tehran end up having their people killed on Afghanistan’s mountains, well, ain’t that too durn bad. Then again, something tells me that neither regime would be so utterly stupid to do more than belch out clouds of gassy rhetoric.