KABUL, Afghanistan — Four major international aid groups suspended their operations on Sunday Afghanistan after a decision by the country Taliban leaders to ban women from working in non-governmental organizations.
Save the Children, the International Rescue Committee, the Norwegian Refugee Council and CARE said they could not effectively reach children, women and men in desperate need in Afghanistan without women in their workforce. The NGO ban was introduced the day before, allegedly because women were not wearing the Islamic headscarf correctly.
The four NGOs provide health, education, child protection and nutrition services and support in severely distressed humanitarian conditions.
“We have complied with all cultural norms and simply cannot work without our dedicated female staff, which is essential in order for us to be able to access women who are in desperate need of help,” said Neil Turner, director of the Norwegian Refugee Council for the ‘Afghanistan. The Associated Press on Sunday. He said the group has 468 women in the country.
The Taliban takeover in August 2021 sent the Afghan economy into a tailspin and transformed the country, plunging millions into poverty and hunger. Foreign aid stopped almost overnight. Sanctions against Taliban leaders, a halt to wire transfers and a freeze of billions in Afghanistan’s foreign exchange reserves have already limited access to global institutions and the foreign money that supported the country’s dependent economy before the withdrawal of the Taliban. United States and NATO. Cash.
In a statement, the International Committee of the Red Cross warned that the exclusion of women from schools and NGO work in Afghanistan “can and will have catastrophic humanitarian consequences in the short and long term”. the The Taliban also banned female students from attending universities. across the country this week.
In an interview with the AP last month, senior Red Cross official Martin Schuepp said more Afghans will struggle to survive as living conditions deteriorate over the next year. Half of the Afghan population, or 24 million people, are in need of humanitarian aid, according to the group.
Senior US officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Afghanistan charge d’affaires Karen Decker, condemned the move.
Decker, tweeting to Dari on Sunday, said: “As a representative of Afghanistan’s largest humanitarian aid donor, I feel entitled to explain how the Taliban plans to stop women and children from starving.” , while women are no longer allowed to distribute aid to other women and children”.
His comments prompted a response from the Taliban-led government’s top spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, who said all institutions wishing to operate in the country must abide by its rules and regulations.
“We do not allow anyone to say anything or threaten the decisions of our leaders on humanitarian aid,” he said in a tweet.
The International Rescue Committee said it was shocked by the Taliban’s decision, adding that more than 3,000 of its employees in Afghanistan are women. “If we are not allowed to hire women, we cannot take care of those who need them,” the group said in a statement announcing the suspension of employment in the country.
The NGO’s order came on Saturday with a letter from Economy Minister Qari Din Mohammed Hanif. He said any organization that does not comply with the order will have its license in Afghanistan revoked.
The flurry of rulings from the all-male religious Taliban government are reminiscent of his rule in the late 1990s, when he barred women from education and public spaces and banned music, television and many sports.
The economy ministry order comes days after the Taliban banned female students from attending universities across the country, sparking a backlash abroad and protests in major Afghan cities.
Around midnight on Saturday in the western city of Herat, where protesters had been dispersed with water cannons, people opened their windows and chanted “Allahu Akbar (God is great)” in solidarity with the schoolgirls.
Also in the southern city of Kandahar, hundreds of male students boycotted final semester exams at Mirwais Neeka University on Saturday. One told the Associated Press that Taliban forces tried to disperse the crowd as they left the exam room.
“They tried to disperse us, so we chanted slogans and then others joined,” said Akhbari, who gave only his last name. “We refused to budge and the Taliban thought we were protesting. The Taliban started firing their weapons into the air. I saw two boys get hit, one in the head.
A spokesman for Kandahar provincial governor Ataullah Zaid denied there was a protest. There were people posing as students and teachers, he said, but they were arrested by the students and the security forces.
