Afghan women and children wait for food aid at a WFP facility in Kandahar. It is not clear if the Taliban directive will affect foreign women working in NGOs.
Javed Tanveer
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ADDS quotes from two female NGO employees
Senior United Nations officials and dozens of NGOs operating in Afghanistan will meet in Kabul on Sunday to discuss the way forward after Taliban authorities ordered all NGOs to stop female employees from working, aid officials said.
The order issued by Taliban authorities drew swift international condemnation, with governments and organizations warning of the impact on humanitarian services in a country where millions depend on aid.
The latest restriction comes less than a week after hardline Islamists banned women from attending universities, sparking global outrage and protests in some Afghan cities.
The Economy Ministry threatened on Saturday to suspend the operating licenses of NGOs if they did not comply with the order.
The ministry, which issues these licences, said it had received “serious complaints” that women working for NGOs did not observe a proper Islamic dress code.
“A Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) meeting is scheduled for today to consult and discuss how to address this issue,” Tapiwa Gomo, public information officer at the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told AFP. from the ONU.
The HCT is made up of senior UN officials and representatives of dozens of Afghan and international NGOs that coordinate the distribution of aid throughout the country.
The meeting will discuss whether to suspend all aid work following the latest Taliban directive, some NGO officials said.
The United Nations, which said it would seek an explanation from the Taliban for the order, condemned the ministry’s directive.
He said the order that excludes women “systematically from all aspects of public and political life sets the country back, jeopardizing efforts for any meaningful peace or stability in the country.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the ban would be “devastating” for Afghans as it would “disrupt life-saving and life-saving assistance for millions of people.”
“I am the only breadwinner for my family. If I lose my job, my family of 15 will starve,” said Shabana, 24, an employee of an international NGO who has worked in Afghanistan for decades.
“As the world celebrates the arrival of the new year, Afghanistan has become a hell for women.”
The ministry said that women working in NGOs were not observing “the Islamic hijab and other rules and regulations related to women’s work in national and international organizations.”
But the employees AFP spoke to dismissed the accusation.
“Our offices are segregated by gender and all the women are dressed appropriately,” said Arezo, who works for another foreign NGO.
It was not clear whether the directive affected foreign female staff in NGOs.
Taliban authorities in Afghanistan have banned women from universities
Deputy Kohsar
The ban comes at a time when millions of people across the country are dependent on humanitarian aid provided by international donors through a vast network of NGOs.
Afghanistan’s economic crisis has only worsened since the Taliban seized power in August last year, prompting Washington to freeze billions of dollars of its assets and foreign donors to cut aid.
Dozens of organizations work in remote areas of Afghanistan and many of their employees are women, with several warning that banning female staff would hamper their work.
“The ban will affect all aspects of humanitarian work, as the employees have been key implementers of several projects targeting the country’s vulnerable female population,” said a senior foreign NGO official in Kabul.
On Tuesday, the higher education minister barred women from universities, accusing them of not being properly dressed either.
That ban sparked widespread international outrage and some protests, which were forcibly dispersed by authorities.
Since returning to power in August last year, the Taliban have already banned teenage girls from attending secondary school.
Women have also been forced out of many government jobs, prevented from traveling without a male relative, and ordered to cover themselves outside the home, ideally with a burqa.
They are also not allowed to enter parks or gardens.
The Taliban have also resumed public flogging of men and women in recent weeks, expanding their implementation of an extreme interpretation of Islamic sharia law.
qb-jd/mtp