The Taliban on Tuesday rejected UN accusations of a “regression” on women’s rights in Afghanistan since coming to power, saying that “thousands” of Afghan women hold public positions but some work “at home”, AFP reported, according to News.ro.

The Taliban explained that employees of several ministries and government agencies were not allowed to enter the office so as not to violate the Taliban’s interpretation of Islamic rules on the separation of the sexes, but “continue to receive payment” for work done at home.

The United Nations report is “biased and far from reality.” Thousands of women work in the field of education, higher education, health care (…), women’s lives are no longer threatened in Afghanistan, and no one will shame them,” he responded to the press release of the Taliban regime’s spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid.

Labor and Social Affairs Minister Sharafuddin Sharaf’s chief of staff said on Tuesday that “not even a single woman” had been released since the Taliban returned to power.

However, he explained, female employees of several ministries and state institutions where gender segregation measures have not yet been implemented are not allowed to come to the office.

“In our Islamic system, it is impossible for women and men to work together in an office.” Where ‘they are not needed’, their male colleagues are responsible for securing their jobs,” added Sharafuddin Sharaf.

A UN special report specifically condemned the “significant regression of women’s and girls’ rights” following the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (Manua) accused Taliban authorities on Monday of intimidating and harassing female staff working in the country, especially after they “temporarily” arrested three staff members for questioning.

One woman told AFP that she was not allowed to enter her old office and had to sign at a register once a week in the parking lot to earn 10,000 Afghani (about 110 euros) a month, less than a third of his previous salary.

“Mostly we are insulted and humiliated. We cannot call it a salary, because it cannot finance the needs of the family,” said Nasriya Tamkin.

After their return to power, the Taliban introduced very strict rules for the behavior of women, especially in public life. Islamic fundamentalists have closed secondary schools for girls in most provinces.

They also ordered women to cover themselves completely in public, ideally with a burqa. Sporadic women’s demonstrations were forcibly dispersed, and several human rights defenders and critics of the regime were beaten and arrested.