Afghan leader says UN encouraging excessive freedom for women

The leader of the ruling Taliban movement in Afghanistan, Mohammed Omar, has accused the United Nations of undermining Islam by trying to impose Western notions of human rights.

He said that what he called the excessive freedoms inherent in western attitudes towards education encouraged wider mixing of the sexes and paved the way for adultery.

The BBC correspondent in Afghanistan says Mullah Omar's remarks -- made in a statement issued in the capital, Kabul -- appear to be in large part a response to international criticism of the Taliban for banning women from work and suspending education for girls.

The U.N. regards such actions as discriminatory and has lobbied for women to be allowed to work outside their homes.

Other critics have included Islamic countries and opponents of the Taliban inside Afghanistan, who still control the northern fifth of the country.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service