After the Taliban forbade women from working for non-governmental organizations, the Taliban severely restricted women’s freedoms in Afghanistan (NGOs).
The Islamist authorities claimed that female NGO workers were disobeying Sharia law by not donning the headscarf.
Women who were barred from going to work described their anxiety and powerlessness to the BBC.
A breadwinner affirmed that she had adhered to the Taliban’s stringent requirements for women’s attire. She declared, “This news is stunning.” “I don’t know what’s going to happen to my life,”
A third woman questioned the “Islamic morality” of the Taliban, claiming that she would now find it difficult to pay her bills and provide for her children.
“The world is watching us and doing nothing,” said another female interviewee.
The Ministry of Economy wrote a letter to both domestic and foreign NGOs informing them of the directive that was issued on Saturday. Any organization that does not immediately comply risks having their license revoked.
It was not immediately obvious, though, if this would affect United Nations organizations, which are widely dispersed around the nation and actively engaged in relief and development efforts.
Afghan women may not be able to directly receive aid if NGOs are now only permitted to hire men. Men cannot collaborate with women because of separate rules.
The restriction was labelled as “yet another reprehensible attempt to eliminate women from the political, social, and economic sectors” in Afghanistan by the South Asian division of Amnesty International.
The Taliban, according to one imam whose name is once again being shielded by the BBC, “are not committed to any Islamic values.”
He clarified: “Islam has never said that women cannot educate males and vice versa. Or women are unable to work but males can. We don’t understand this choice.”
Similar criticism was directed earlier this week at a prohibition on women enrolling in Afghan universities. Protests were started, including one on Saturday in Herat, but they were quickly put down.
Despite vowing that their administration would be more tolerant than the one in the 1990s, the Taliban has systematically weakened women’s rights since regaining control of the nation last year.
In most provinces, secondary schools for girls are still closed. In addition, women have been denied access to parks and gyms, among other public spaces.
