The United States, the European Union and 19 other Western nations called on Afghanistan’s Taliban leaders Wednesday to guarantee the rights of women and girls, saying in a joint statement they are “deeply worried” about their rights to education, employment and “freedom of movement.”The Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, center, speaks at his first news conference in Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 17, 2021.Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told reporters Tuesday the new Taliban government would be “positively different” from the one that governed 1996-2001, when girls were banned from school and women were prohibited from working in contact with men.Without specifics, Mujahid said Taliban leaders were “committed to letting women work in accordance with the principles of Islam.”After ruling the country for five years, the Taliban were ousted by the U.S-led invasion that followed the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.(Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, and Reuters.)  
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