As U.S. troops leave Afghanistan, lawmakers fear dark future for women

FILE PHOTO: A U.S. soldier keeps watch at an Afghan National Army (ANA) base in Logar province, Afghanistan August 5, 2018. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers will grill President Joe Biden's envoy for Afghanistan on Tuesday about how the administration plans to ensure women's rights will be protected if the hardline Islamist Taliban take control after U.S. troops withdraw later this year.

Zalmay Khalilzad, special envoy for Afghanistan Reconciliation, will testify to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at the panel's first public hearing on the administration's Afghanistan policy since Biden announced plans to withdraw troops by Sept. 11 after two decades of war.