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The performing head of the UN Mission in Afghanistan, Ramiz Alakbarov, meets with the Taliban authorities’s financial system minister, Qari Din Mohammed Hanif, within the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Dec. 26.Abdul Rahman Habib/The Related Press
The highest UN official in Kabul met with a Taliban authorities minister in Afghanistan’s capital on Monday, following a call by the nation’s new rulers to bar girls from working for non-governmental organizations, the UN mission stated.
The ban has already prompted 4 main worldwide support companies to droop operations in Afghanistan, elevating the likelihood that thousands and thousands of individuals will probably be left with out meals, training, well being care and different important companies in the course of the harsh winter months.
Humanitarian officers have warned that excluding girls from NGO work could have catastrophic penalties for the inhabitants by depriving them of lifesaving help.
The measure – the newest in restrictions on girls’s rights and freedoms in Afghanistan – was introduced on Saturday by Qari Din Mohammad Hanif, the Taliban financial system minister. It was imposed allegedly as a result of some feminine NGO staff in Afghanistan weren’t sporting the Islamic scarf, or hijab, accurately.
Mr. Hanif on the time stated that any group discovered not complying with the order could have its license revoked.
The UN mission in Afghanistan stated in a tweet that its performing head, Ramiz Alakbarov, met with Mr. Hanif on Monday and referred to as for a reversal of the ban.
“Tens of millions of Afghans want humanitarian help and eradicating limitations is important,” the UN stated, with out offering extra particulars concerning the assembly. The Economic system Ministry spokesman, Abdul Rahman Habib, advised the Related Press the assembly was organized after Mr. Hanif issued the NGO order.
The 4 support companies stopped their operations in Afghanistan, saying they may not successfully attain folks in determined want with out their feminine work drive.
Save the Youngsters, the Worldwide Rescue Committee, the Norwegian Refugee Council and CARE have been offering important companies and help amid plummeting dwelling circumstances.
Islamic Aid stated its feminine workers have been very important in offering important well being care, meals and supporting widows and orphans. It’s quickly suspending non-lifesaving actions in Afghanistan due to the ban, though its lifesaving well being care will proceed.
The Taliban takeover in mid-August 2021 as U.S. and NATO forces have been within the last weeks of their pullout after 20 years of conflict, despatched Afghanistan’s financial system right into a tailspin and remodeled the nation, driving thousands and thousands into poverty and starvation. Overseas support stopped virtually in a single day.
Sanctions on the Taliban rulers, together with a halt on financial institution transfers and the freezing of billions in Afghanistan’s international property have already restricted entry to international establishments. Funds from support companies helped prop up the nation’s aid-dependent financial system earlier than the Taliban takeover.
Qatar, which performed a key function in facilitating the negotiations that led to the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan final yr, expressed its concern Sunday concerning the NGO ban imposed “underneath the pretext” that some feminine staff didn’t adhere to the Islamic gown code set by the federal government for ladies.
The Group of Islamic Cooperation stated the elemental rights of Afghan girls had been dealt but “one other extreme blow” following the order. Its secretary-general, Hissein Brahim Taha, stated the transfer mirrored a “willful coverage … apparently looking for to additional affect Afghan girls’s rights.”
Earlier final week, Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities stopped college training for ladies, sparking worldwide outrage and demonstrations in Afghan cities.
Safety in Kabul was intensified in latest days, with an elevated variety of checkpoints, armoured automobiles, Taliban particular forces and armed officers on the streets.
The Taliban authorities’s Inside Ministry and the Kabul police chief weren’t instantly accessible for touch upon the tighter safety.