Afghanistan: UN says Taliban barred female Afghan UN employees from work

The United Nations said that the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan have ordered the UN’s female Afghan employees from returning to work throughout the country. This marks the latest sign of restriction against women and girls in Afghanistan by the Taliban.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said this week that the Taliban has barred the UN’s female Afghan employees from working throughout the country. Dujarric said that this was the latest in a “disturbing trend” of undermining aid organizations to work in a country where 23 million of its people are in need of aid. Dujarric added that UN chief Antonio Guterres would view any ban on Afghan women working for the UN in Afghanistan would be “unacceptable and frankly, inconceivable.”

Two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that concerns about the implementation of the ban led the UN to ask all of its staff not to return to the office for 48 hours.

“We’re still looking into how this development would affect our operations in the country and we are expecting to have more meetings with the de facto authorities tomorrow in Kabul. We’re trying to seek some clarity,” said Dujarric. “We do not have anything in writing as of now.”

On Tuesday, the UN Mission to Afghanistan also expressed concern earlier that its female staff in the eastern Nangarhar province were stopped from reporting to work. Friday and Saturday are normally weekend days at the UN offices in Afghanistan. This means that staff would not report to work until Sunday.

This new restriction comes amidst several other restrictive policies the Taliban has ordered on women and girls since retaking control of the country in 2021. The insurgent group has since barred women from going to most schools, including university.

Meanwhile, Taliban forces carried out a raid in the northern province of Balkh, killing six fighters belonging to the Islamic State militant group, according to the spokesman of the insurgent group. Balkh police chief spokesman Mohammad Asif Waziri, the raid targeted an ISIL hideout in Balkh’s Nahri Shahi district.

The raid comes amidst attacks by ISIL in the region, killing Balkh governor Mohammad Dawood Muzammil.