Background:

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai on August 17, 2020 announced the establishment of a High Council of Women ahead of imminent peace talks with the Taliban. It is under the auspices of the Ministry of Women Affairs (MoWA). The Council will have 26 representatives who will focus on women's empowerment, the president’s office said on August 17, 2020.

Civil society institutions and women’s rights activists said that the recent order by President Ashraf Ghani in which he ordered the establishment of the High Council of Women is only a "symbolic" move towards women’s empowerment, adding that there is a need to increase women’s presence in the government institutions on the threshold of the intra-Afghan talks.