ISLAMABAD (AP) — The United Arab Emirates on Wednesday accepted the credentials of the Taliban’s ambassador to the oil-rich Gulf state, the biggest diplomatic coup for Afghanistan’s rulers since they sent their ambassador to China. It was further proof of the international divide over how to deal with the Taliban, who are not officially recognized as the country's legitimate government.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kabul confirmed the news about Badruddin Haqqani in a post on social media platform X. The ministry did not respond to requests for information about Haqqani, who was previously the Taliban's envoy to the UAE.
Haqqani is not related to the Acting Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, who in June met the UAE leader, but he is from his team.
Sirajuddin is the current leader of the powerful Haqqani network and is a specially designated global terrorist. He is wanted by the U.S for his involvement in deadly attacks and is also on several sanctions lists.
Even though the Taliban remain isolated from the West, they have pursued bilateral ties with major regional powers.
Last week, Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov arrived in Afghanistan in the highest-level visit by a foreign official since the Taliban returned to power three years ago.
The U.N. says recognition is “nearly impossible” while restrictions on women and girls are in place.
FILE - Afghan Taliban Envoy to the United Arab Emirates Badruddin Haqqani, far right, walks through an Emirates A380's business class on display at the Dubai Air Show in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Nov. 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell, file)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Young women are more liberal than they have been in decades, according to a Gallup analysis of more than 20 years of polling data.
Over the past few years, about 4 in 10 young women between the ages of 18 and 29 have described their political views as liberal, compared with two decades ago when about 3 in 10 identified that way.
For many young women, their liberal identity is not just a new label. The share of young women who hold liberal views on the environment, abortion, race relations and gun laws has also jumped by double digits, Gallup found.
Young women "aren’t just identifying as liberal because they like the term or they’re more comfortable with the term, or someone they respect uses the term,” said Lydia Saad, the director of U.S. social research at Gallup. “They have actually become much more liberal in their actual viewpoints."
Becoming a more cohesive political gtoup with distinctly liberal views could turn young women into a potent political force, according to Saad. While it is hard to pinpoint what is making young women more liberal, they now are overwhelmingly aligned on many issues, which could make it easier for campaigns to motivate them.
Young women are already a constituency that has leaned Democratic — AP VoteCast data shows that 65% of female voters under 30 voted for Democrat Joe Biden in 2020 — but they are sometimes less reliable when it comes to turnout.
Young women began to diverge ideologically from other groups, including men between 18 and 29, women over 30 and men over 30, during Democrat Barack Obama's presidency. That trend appears to have accelerated more recently, around the election of Republican Donald Trump, the #MeToo movement and increasingly successful efforts by the anti-abortion movement to erode abortion access. At the same time, more women, mostly Democrats, were elected to Congress, as governor and to state legislatures, giving young women new representation and role models in politics.
The change in young women's political identification is happening across the board, Gallup found, rather than being propelled by a specific subgroup.
Taylor Swift's endorsement Tuesday of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, after her debate against Trump, illustrated one of the issues where young women have moved to the left. In Swift's Instagram announcing the endorsement praised Harris and running mate Tim Walz for championing reproductive rights.
The Gallup analysis found that since the Obama era, young women have become nearly 20 percentage points more likely to support broad abortion rights. There was a roughly similar increase in the share of young women who said protection of the environment should be prioritized over economic growth and in the share of young women who say gun laws should be stricter.
Now, Saad said, solid majorities of young women hold liberal views on issues such as abortion, the environment, and gun laws.
Young women are "very unified on these issues ... and not only do they hold these views, but they are dissatisfied with the country in these areas, and they are worried about them,” she said. That, she added, could help drive turnout.
“You've got supermajorities of women holding these views," she said, and they are "primed to be activated to vote on these issues."
Associated Press writer Laurie Kellman in London contributed to this report.
Signs for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are posted in Jarvis Square ahead of the presidential debate between Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
FILE - Taylor Swift arrives at the world premiere of the concert film "Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour" in Los Angeles on Oct. 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)
