Merkel says Afghanistan situation 'regrettable, women unable to pursue dreams

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, termed the situation in Afghanistan as "very regrettable" and stated that an order could not be created in the country for women's dreams to be pursued peacefully despite the "best intentions", reported local media.

Merkel wished that a different outcome had befallen the war-torn country, reported TOLOnews citing her conversation with Deutsche Welle.

"I want to tell the people of Afghanistan that we are of course very sad about the fact that we simply did not manage to achieve what we wanted to do, namely find a self-sustaining political order in Afghanistan, one in which girls can go to school, women can fulfil their wishes, and with lasting peace," TOLOnews quoted Merkel as saying.

"The blame for this lies not with Germany alone. The Afghans, for their part, did not get it done either. It is simply very regrettable," she further said.

Talking about the evacuation process in the country, Merkel said that Germany not only evacuated a large amount of staff from Afghanistan but also helped many Afghans who did not work with Germany but were active advocates of freedom and democracy in the war-torn Asian country, according to TOLOnews.

Meanwhile, the Human Rights Watch feared that there would be an increase in child marriage across the country due to the lack of education and rising poverty, reported TOLOnews.

"Access to education is another issue. As you know, the vast majority of girls' secondary schools are still closed, and even primary schools that are open seem very low attended by girls and by boys as well--so a huge proportion of the children in Afghanistan are being denied the right to education at the moment. And this leads to another problem which is child marriage. We know that the combination of poverty and lack of access to education is driving up child marriage and we have also seen the incredibly disturbing reports about families selling their children--almost always girls--to pay for food," TOLOnews quoted Heather Barr at Human Rights Watch as saying.

(ANI)