KABUL: Top UN officials and dozens of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) operating in Afghanistan are meeting on Sunday to discuss the next steps after Taliban authorities ordered all NGOs to stop hiring women, according to aid officials.
On Saturday, hard-line Islamists threatened to revoke NGOs’ operating licenses if the order was not followed.
The Ministry of Economy, which issues these licenses, stated that it had received “serious complaints” that women working in non-governmental organizations were not following Islamic dress code.
“A Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) meeting is scheduled later today to consult and discuss how to address this issue,” said Tapiwa Gomo, public information officer for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The HCT is made up of top UN officials as well as representatives from dozens of Afghan and international NGOs who coordinate aid distribution across the country.
According to some NGO officials, the meeting will discuss whether to suspend all aid work in response to the latest Taliban directive.
The United Nations condemned the ministry’s directive, saying it would seek an explanation from the Taliban.
The order barring women from “all aspects of public and political life” “takes the country backward, jeopardizing efforts for any meaningful peace or stability in the country,” it said.
The ban, according to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, would be “devastating” to Afghans because it would “disrupt vital and life-saving assistance to millions.”
The ban comes at a time when millions of people across the country rely on humanitarian aid provided by international donors via a vast network of non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
Afghanistan’s economic crisis has worsened since the Taliban took power in August last year, prompting Washington to freeze billions of dollars in assets and foreign donors to halt aid.
According to the ministry, women working in non-governmental organizations are not adhering to “the Islamic hijab and other rules and regulations pertaining to the work of females in national and international organizations.”
It was unclear whether the directive affected foreign women working for non-governmental organizations.
Several organizations operate in remote areas of Afghanistan, and many of their employees are women, with several warning that a ban on female employees would stymie their work.
The latest restriction comes less than a week after Taliban authorities prohibited women from attending universities, sparking international outrage and protests in some Afghan cities.
The Taliban have already barred teenage girls from attending secondary school since regaining power in August of last year.
Women have also been forced to leave many government jobs, are barred from traveling without a male relative, and are required to cover up outside the home, preferably with a burqa.
They are also not permitted to visit parks or gardens.
Source: AFP