US diplomat apologizes for tweet gone 'awry' saying Afghan women need 'movement' similar to 'Black Girl Magic'
US Chargé d’Affaires Karen B. Decker apologized for criticized tweet: 'Sometimes our best intentions go awry'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A U.S. diplomat who caught serious heat for tweeting that Afghan girls and women need a "movement" similar to "Black Girl Magic" as they remain starved of even their basic rights under Taliban leadership, has apologized.
U.S. Chargé d’Affaires of the U.S. Mission to Afghanistan Karen B. Decker tweeted Thursday, "Sometimes our best intentions go awry because we haven’t listened enough or don’t truly understand others’ lived experience. My efforts to celebrate courageous African Americans this month fall in that category. I apologize to any and all who I may have offended or hurt."
Decker's original tweet, apparently in celebration of Black History Month, read, "Are Afghans familiar with #BlackGirlMagic and the movement it inspired? Do Afghan girls need a similar movement? What about Afghan Women?"
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Teach me, ready to learn. @Beyonce @lizzo @ReginaKing," it read.
That tweet was deleted after receiving scores of complaints. Spokesman Ned Price said it was not cleared with the State Department and that "the messaging in this context is rather inappropriate and ineffective."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., called that tweet an "embarrassment." "And a perfect example of the Biden Administration prioritizing wokeness over competence," he said Wednesday.
"And they said the adults were back in charge," Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said in response.
An Afghan woman waits to receive food rations distributed by a Saudi humanitarian aid group, in Kabul, Afghanistan, April 25, 2022. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Beyond parody. It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad," Christina Pushaw, an aide to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, wrote.
Decker's comments were made as almost a year and a half has passed since the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan prompted the mass exodus of Americans, U.S. allies and vulnerable Afghan refugees from the Taliban-controlled state.
Afghan girls attend a religious school in Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Women, since the U.S. withdrawal, have faced an uphill battle to maintain their basic human rights while being treated as second-class citizens, despite the Taliban initially assuring the world otherwise.
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The Taliban have banned women and girls from attending universities, barring them from receiving secondary education, among various other restrictions.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fox News Digital's Bailee Hill contributed to this report.