December 30, 2022

Taliban continues to oppress women by restricting humanitarian work

topic:	Women's rights
located:	Afghanistan
editor:	Shadi Khan Saif

Millions of vulnerable and hungry Afghans are surviving on the lifeline of humanitarian aid as the country’s hardline Taliban authorities continue to deliberate on their ignorant ideology instead of making life more easy for the population.

Just when everyone thought the cruel ban on women and girls from attending universities was the peak of the Taliban’s atrocities, the group followed with something worse - a ban on girls and women working for humanitarian organisations.

As Afghanistan endures the worst humanitarian crisis of its history, this crippling move will have far reaching impacts as female aid workers were the only means of accessing the marginalised and oppressed women in the conservative country.

In an immediate reaction to this, at least four major aid groups suspended their activities, leaving about 11,441 people jobless, 5,000 of whom are women.

Since the Taliban takeover of Kabul in August 2021, the Afghan population seems to have just two options: escape in whatever way possible or live miserably without rights. Outside, the international community led by the US - the main party of the Doha Agreement which paved the way for the Taliban’s rise to power - is escaping all moral and human responsibility by issuing condemnation statements, without committing to action to protect the Afghan people.

Foreign countries are not issuing visas to the millions of Afghans desperately seeking exit; the Taliban authorities are not issuing them passports or ensuring provisions of rights and services.

The entrapment of the country’s citizens will only get worse because the Taliban has resorted to authoritarian rule, imposing its ideology by force, and the international community refuses to engage with the group in a civilised way - by either recognising the Taliban’s authority with conditions based on rights and services for the masses or lifting sanctions on the banking sector and travel so that the entire population can either take care of their needs or flee.

The US holds primary responsibility to take lead in resolving this humanitarian crisis in the first place and of engaging with the group it has imposed on the people of Afghanistan.

Photo by Wanman uthmaniyyah

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