Afghan women excluded from peace talks with Taliban: aid agency

(Reuters) - Afghan women are excluded from efforts to negotiate peace with the Taliban and hard-won rights could be bargained away unless more is done to include them in the process, aid agency Oxfam said in a report on Monday.

In 23 rounds of peace talks tracked by Oxfam since 2005, not one Afghan woman participated in discussions between the Taliban and international negotiators.

In talks between the Taliban and the government, only one Afghan woman was present on two occasions, Oxfam said.

"Negotiations and peace talks to date have taken place predominantly behind closed doors and without Afghan women's knowledge, input or involvement," the report said.

Under the hardline, Islamist Taliban government ousted by U.S.-led forces in 2001, women were banned from education, employment and public life.

Significant gains made over more than a decade of foreign intervention are now at risk or have already been rolled back, Oxfam said, and the dialogue so far had missed the opportunity to stress the importance of protecting women's rights.   "It is clear that women's rights have been a low priority," the report said.

Just nine of 70 members of the Afghan High Peace Council are women, and their role is largely symbolic, according to Oxfam, which advocates a 30 percent minimum threshold for female inclusion.  Read More