Taliban issues decree forbidding work for women at NGOs

After stopping their access to education, the Taliban further curtails the freedom of women in Afghanistan

CHENNAI | Updated: 25 December, 2022 2:15 pm IST

Taliban has brought new curbs on women in Afghanistan

Islamic hardliners Taliban on Saturday announced they were forbidding women from working at any Afghan nongovernmental organisation or international nongovernmental organization, sources told The New Indian.

The Taliban issued the decree on female employment, days after an order closed universities for women’s education on Tuesday.

“The Taliban issued a decree today banning women from working in NGOs and international organizations. Yes, women will protest these decrees, and the men of our country will watch from afar while they get arrested. This is the cycle. “Afghanistan is hell on Earth for women,” tweeted Sara Wahedi, an Afghan data science student and US tech startup entrepreneur.

Shocked by the announcement of the Taliban on curbing the rights of women’s education, female agitators in Afghanistan staged protests in several districts, including Kabul, Takhar and Nangarhar provinces.

Copy of Taliban’s decree banning woman from work in NGOs

In a move to register their protest, several university teachers resigned from teaching, and male students of Nangarhar University walked away from the examination centre without completing their answer scripts.

The decree on the ban of female education by the all-men-run Taliban administration drew an immediate response from several countries, including India, the US and UAE.

Underscoring the need for an inclusive representation in the power corridor of Kabul and implementation of UN Resolution 2593, spokesperson of India’s Ministry of External Affairs Arindam Bagchi said, “India has always supported the cause of female education in Afghanistan.”

Responding to the Taliban’s decree on curbing rights to female education, the USA, which pulled out its military from the war-torn nation in August 2021, said in a statement, “The United States condemns the Taliban’s indefensible decision to prevent Afghan women from receiving a university-level education.”

“This deplorable decision is the latest effort by the Taliban leadership to impose additional restrictions on women and girls in Afghanistan and prevent them from exercising their human rights and fundamental freedoms. As a result of this unacceptable stance to hold back half of the population of Afghanistan, the Taliban will be further alienated from the international community and denied the legitimacy they desire,” the statement said.