Major NGOs halt work in Afghanistan after Taliban ban on female workers

Three major international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) announced on Sunday that they are halting their work in Afghanistan following the Taliban’s announcement that it is prohibiting women from working for these types of organizations. 

Save the Children, the Norwegian Refugee Council and CARE International said in a joint release that they are demanding both men and women be allowed to continue participating in their “lifesaving assistance” in Afghanistan. They said they will suspend their programs there while they gain “clarity” on the announcement. 

“We cannot effectively reach children, women and men in desperate need in Afghanistan without our female staff,” they said. “Without women driving our response, we would not have jointly reached millions of Afghans in need since August 2021.” 

The NGOs said the Taliban’s decision will also affect thousands of jobs as the county is in the midst of an economic crisis. 

The Taliban’s decision came as it also announced women will not be allowed to attend universities in the country nor religious classes in mosques in the capital of Kabul. 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that the Taliban’s prohibition on women working for NGOs could be “devastating” and disrupt “vital and life-saving assistance” to millions of people. 

The Taliban has said that it established the ban in response to “serious complaints” about women who worked for NGOs wearing their hijab, the Islamic headscarf, improperly. 

The Taliban has instituted numerous rules restricting women’s rights in the country following their strict interpretation of Sharia Law since they regained control of the county last August. Women are largely restricted from working outside their homes, must cover their faces in public and be accompanied by a male chaperone when they travel, according to the United Nations.

The country has also suffered severe economic hardship as international aid halted almost immediately after the Taliban retook the country.

Afghan women have gathered to protest the recent ban on attending universities in cities across the country. Taliban security forces have responded harshly, using a water cannon in one city to disperse a group of women protesters. 

Multiple Muslim-majority countries from the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar, have also condemned the prohibition on women attending higher education. 

The Taliban’s higher education minister said he believed the ban was necessary to prevent the mixing of genders at universities and because he believed some subjects being taught violated Islamic principles.