All women associated with NGOs should stop working, Taliban

This announcement comes at a time when women’s education in universities has been banned just a few days ago. The Taliban have said that women associated with NGOs do not wear “full Islamic dress” as ordered and have received complaints about not wearing the Islamic hijab. The United States has severely criticized this decision, saying that millions of poor Afghans may lose aid in this way.

After this order of the Taliban, the top officials of the United Nations and other welfare organizations working in Afghanistan are holding a meeting in Kabul on Sunday. The purpose of this meeting is to decide the future course of action after the latest announcement by the Taliban government. The announcement issued by the Afghan Ministry of Economy also said that NGOs may face suspension of their operating licenses if they do not implement the order.

“A meeting of the Humanitarian Country Team HCT today will determine how to deal with this problem,” Tapiwa Gomo, public information officer of the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs, told the AFP news agency. The HCT includes senior UN officials, dozens of Afghan and international NGO representatives, who ensure the distribution of aid across the country.

NGO officials said that the meeting will discuss the suspension of relief operations as a result of the Taliban’s latest orders. On the other hand, there are also possibilities of the United Nations asking for an explanation of this decision of the Taliban. In a statement issued by the United Nations, it is said that the exclusion of women from the public and political sphere in this systematic way leads to pushing any country towards backwardness.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blanken said the ban would be ‘devastating’ for Afghans as it would deprive millions of life-saving aid. Since the Taliban came to power in August last year, a severe economic crisis has arisen in Afghanistan. Washington froze billions of dollars in Afghan government assets after the Taliban regime came to power, and foreign donors limited aid.

Dozens of such NGOs operate in many remote areas of Afghanistan. Most of the employees of these NGOs are women. “This ban will affect all aspects of humanitarian work because female workers have been playing key roles in various projects focusing on Afghan women,” said a foreign NGO in Kabul.

Upon returning to power, Taliban officials began an endless series of restrictions on women, including closing girls’ secondary schools, barring girls from university admissions, barring women from government jobs, veils, etc. Along with the strictest orders were orders not to leave the house without a man. The latest link to these restrictions is the ban on women employees of NGOs.