On Saturday, the Taliban’s supreme leadership commanded Afghan local and foreign non-governmental organisations to immediately forbid any female employees from reporting to work ‘until further notice.’
Female employees of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are not permitted to work until further notice, according to a letter from the economy ministry’s spokesperson, Abdulrahman Habib. This is because some of the organisations do not comply with the Taliban administration’s directives regarding a mandatory Islamic hijab or dress code for their female staff.
This comes days after the administration issued an order banning women from attending universities, drawing condemnation on a global scale.
Both choices are likely to undermine the Taliban-run government’s efforts to win international recognition and lift the crippling sanctions on the economy.
On Twitter, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed his concerns, adding, ‘Women are central to humanitarian operations around the world. This decision could be devastating for the Afghan people.’
Ramiz Alakbarov, the UN’s deputy special representative for Afghanistan and humanitarian coordinator, told Reuters that because many of the UN’s programmes depend on female staff to evaluate humanitarian need and identify beneficiaries, ‘many of UN’s programmes will be affected’ by the change.
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