The Taliban has issued an “order” barring Afghan women working for the UN, still free from such restrictions, from working anywhere in Afghanistan, a UN spokesman announced on Tuesday, condemning the decision as “unacceptable and frankly unthinkable”.

Taliban fighters on the streets of KabulPhoto: Wakil Kohsar / AFP / Profimedia

The UN mission in the country (Manua) said during the day that Afghan UN staff, who are so far exempted from this type of restrictive measures, have not been allowed to work in Nangarhar province, eastern Afghanistan, France-Presse and Agerpres reported on Tuesday. .

“We have been told by various channels that the ban applies to the whole country,” Stephane Dujarric said, while earlier in the day the UN mission in the country said that female UN staff were not allowed to work in the country’s provinces. East.

Afghanistan is facing one of the worst humanitarian crises on the planet, with more than half of its 38 million people facing acute food shortages and 3 million children at risk of malnutrition.

The Taliban also banned women from entering universities

Late last year, the Taliban also ordered all national and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in Afghanistan to suspend their female staff until further notice.

The Taliban justified their decision by saying that women who work in humanitarian non-governmental organizations violate the dress laws adopted as part of their fundamentalist vision of Islam.

The move comes after the Taliban government previously banned female students from entering universities, a ban that was enforced without opposition by the country’s higher education institutions.

Turkey condemned the ban, saying it was “neither Muslim nor humane”.

But it was just the latest in a series of moves by the Taliban that have severely curtailed women’s rights since they returned to power last August, when the Islamist government in Kabul banned them from visiting parks and traveling unaccompanied by men.

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