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Four major international aid groups have suspended their operations in Afghanistan following a decision by the Taliban regime to ban women from working at non-governmental organisations.
Save the Children, the International Rescue Committee, the Norwegian Refugee Council and CARE said on Sunday they could not effectively reach people in desperate need without the women in their workforces. The NGO ban was introduced a day earlier, allegedly because women were not wearing the Islamic headscarf correctly.
The four NGOs have been providing healthcare, education, child protection and nutrition services and support amid plummeting humanitarian conditions.
Neil Turner, the Norwegian Refugee Council’s chief for Afghanistan, told the Associated Press the group had 468 female staff in the country.
“We have complied with all cultural norms and we simply can’t work without our dedicated female staff, who are essential for us to access women who are in desperate need of assistance,” Turner said.
The Taliban takeover in August 2021 sent Afghanistan’s economy into a tailspin and transformed the country, driving millions into poverty and hunger. Foreign aid stopped almost overnight. Sanctions on Taliban rulers, a halt on bank transfers and frozen billions in Afghanistan’s currency reserves have already restricted access to global institutions and the outside money that supported the country’s aid-dependent economy before the withdrawal of US and Nato forces.
In a statement, the International Committee of the Red Cross warned that excluding women from schools and NGO work in Afghanistan “can and will lead to catastrophic humanitarian consequences in the short to long term”.
