Blinken calls on Afghan Taliban to reverse ban on women at universities

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday said that the Taliban are trying to sentence Afghanistan’s women “to a dark future without opportunity” by banning them from attending universities.

Speaking in an end of the year news conference, Blinken said the Taliban-run administration will fail in its efforts to improve relations with the rest of the world unless the militants reverse the ban.

“There are going to be costs if this is not reversed,” he said of the ban announced on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Jonathan Landay and Humeyra Pamuk)