As US troops leave Afghanistan, lawmakers fear dark future for women

USlawmakers grilled President Joe Biden`s Afghanistan peace envoy on Tuesday about how women will be protected if the hard-line Islamist Taliban take control after UStroops withdraw, and threatened to withhold funding if rights gains are reversed.

"I don’t believe under any circumstances that the United States Senate will support assistance for Afghanistan, especially under the World Bank’s programme which provides budget support, if the Taliban has taken a governing role that ends civil society advances and rolls back women’s rights," said Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez.