The United Nations has announced that the Security Council will hold a meeting on Afghanistan on Friday, June 21.

Roza Otunbayeva, the head of United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), will explain the situation in Afghanistan at this meeting.

The Security Council is reviewing the situation in Afghanistan following a recent report by Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan, which stated that violence against Afghan women is strong and widespread.

Bennett emphasised that the exclusion of women from public life and the deprivation of Afghan women and girls from work and education, should’ve be classified as crimes against humanity and gender apartheid.

Simultaneously, the third Doha meeting, hosted by the United Nations and attended by special representatives of countries for Afghanistan, is scheduled for June 30 and July 1.

The Taliban have been invited to the Doha meeting and have announced that they will send a delegation to Qatar. However, according to reports, the UN has not invited representatives of Afghan civil society.

Political groups and women have called for the inclusion of diverse Afghan groups, including women, in the Doha meeting and have questioned the "legitimacy" of the Doha meeting in the absence of women.