James MacLeod, director of Olympic Solidary and head of National Olympic Committee (NOC) relations, said efforts in Afghanistan to improve accessibility and inclusivity "remained insufficient" and stressed that the IOC was "extremely concerned" by the country’s restrictions in sport.

The situation in Afghanistan was addressed when IOC Executive Board members gathered for the second day of meetings in Swiss city Lausanne.

Alhaj Maulvi Abdul Wadud Haqqani was appointed as Afghanistan’s new General Directorate of Physical Education and Sports and acting leader of the Afghan NOC in April, replacing Nazar Mohammad Mutamaen.

MacLeod revealed that the IOC leadership had recently held an online call with Haqqani where they reiterated the need for Afghanistan to meet a series of conditions.

Among those include ensuring safe and inclusive access to sport for women and young girls and that restrictions preventing them from participating in sporting activities were addressed by the country’s authorities.

MacLeod said Haqqani "guaranteed that work was ongoing relating to this critical matter", but the British official insisted that the IOC was unhappy with the level of progress in the country with a little more than a year to go until the Olympic Games in Paris.

"The IOC Executive Board took note of the latest discussions with the Afghan NOC and the Afghan director of physical education and sport in the past few months to address the issue of ensuring the safe and inclusive access to sport for women and young girls in Afghanistan," said MacLeod.

"The IOC Executive Board was made aware of recent developments in particular that the level of primary schools to allow young girls to practice sport as a first step but reiterated that this remains insufficient.

"The IOC Executive Board continues to be extremely concerned by the restrictions placed on women and young girls to access sport in Afghanistan which have not yet been reversed despite the repeated calls from the IOC and run contrary to the Olympic values of non-discrimination, inclusion and respect.

"Consequently, the IOC Executive Board urges the Afghan NOC and the Afghan director of physical education and sport to drastically strengthen and accelerate their efforts from the highest authorities in the country and expects to see significant process and concrete results at all levels in the very near future."

The IOC Executive Board is expected to review the situation in Afghanistan in October with MacLeod insisting that they "reserve the right to take any further measures to protect women and young girls’ access to sport".

MacLeod also added that the "specific modalities for the participation of the Afghan NOC delegation and team in the Olympic Games Paris 2024 have not yet been decided".

Afghan IOC member Samira Asghari has previously described the country as "like a prison" for women and girls following the Taliban's return to power in 2021.

Hardline Islamist group the Taliban severely restricts the rights of women and girls under its interpretation of Sharia law.

This includes a requirement for women to cover their faces in public, travel with men and be excluded from secondary education and sports.

IOC President Thomas Bach said last September that his organisation was receiving "different signals" from Afghanistan on its approach to women in sport.

Human Rights Watch has accused the IOC of an inadequate response to "the deprivation of rights of women and girl athletes" despite its engagement with the Taliban, and claimed "there is no evidence the IOC solidarity funding or humanitarian funding has reached athletes, either male or female".

Afghanistan's NOC has previously been suspended from 1999 to 2003 after the Taliban barred women from sport during its first Governmental rule and was subsequently banned from competing at Sydney 2000.

Sprinter Kamia Yousufi was the only female athlete in Afghanistan’s five-strong team at Tokyo 2020.