WEB DESK
TORKHAM: Four major international aid organizations ceased operations in Afghanistan on Sunday, following the Taliban’s decision to prohibit women from working in non-governmental organizations.
According to media sources, The Norwegian Refugee, Save the Children, Council and CARE and the International Rescue Committee, said they cannot effectively reach children, women and men in desperate need in Afghanistan without the women in their workforces. The NGO ban was introduced a day earlier, allegedly because women weren’t wearing the Islamic headscarf correctly.
The Afghan Taliban government on Saturday threatened to suspend the operating licenses of NGOs if they failed to implement the order.
On Saturday, the Taliban said female NGO employees were not allowed to work because some had not adhered to a strict interpretation of the Islamic dress code for women.
The UN, Germany, USA and the European Union condemned the ban and said excluding women “systematically from all aspects of public and political life takes the country backward, jeopardizing efforts for any meaningful peace or stability in the country.
the international community to take a stand against the Taliban’s latest restrictions on women’s freedoms.
The ban would be “devastating” to Afghans as it would “disrupt vital and life-saving assistance to millions.” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said
The four NGOs are providing healthcare, education, child protection and nutrition services and support amid plummeting humanitarian conditions.
