Macron says world leaders should press Taliban on women’s rights

French President Emmanuel Macron said on France-Inter radio Tuesday that world leaders must press the Taliban to give equal rights to women and girls. 

Macron said he is going to bring up the topic at a Group of 20 (G-20) summit later this month, emphasizing global recognition of the Taliban can not occur while they are oppressing women, The Associated Press reported. 

Along with Western countries, Macron said the G-20 as a whole needs to “convince regional powers, powers that don’t necessarily have the same values as we do on all issues, to act together” to pressure the Taliban. 

The Taliban have not allowed high-school-aged girls to go back to school and have barred most women from returning to work. 

The militant group previously said it is working on a plan to get high school girls back in school, but the group has already let boys in the age group back in the classroom. 

“You must absolutely give young girls in your country a future, and that is one of the things that we will look at before recognizing you,” Macron said. 

Along with assuring rights for girls and women, Macron said the Taliban have to commit to not working with “Islamist terrorist groups” in the area. 

The Taliban said they recently destroyed an ISIS-affiliated cell after the group bombed a mosque in Kabul.