UN General Assembly
1998

“the countries that shout about freedom for women want to use them only for prostitution and entertainment until they get old and useless”. The Taliban say they know best what to do with women and girls. When asked to put an end to drug production and trafficking, the Taliban say that, though produced in Afghanistan, narcotics are consumed overseas. They also say that drug production and smuggling, operations which the Taliban and some Pakistani military officers jointly maintain, earn them profits. When asked to hold negotiations with the parties to the conflict, the Taliban, again quoted in The Washington Post, say that their first priority has been to disarm the opposition and that negotiations will follow only then. Peace has no place on the Taliban agenda. Even when Mr. Lakhdar Brahimi, the Secretary-General?s Special Envoy, urged them to attend the face-to-face talks with us, held in Ashgabat on 5 April 1998, they did not participate. On 25 April 1998, the negotiations between both sides in Islamabad — under the supervision of the United Nations