Taliban Bans Female Staff From Working For NGOs

(CTN NEWS) – KABUL – All domestic and international non-governmental organizations in Afghanistan were told on Saturday to stop hiring women, according to the Taliban leadership.

Who claimed that some women workers weren’t properly donning the Islamic headscarf.

Separately, they forbade women from attending religious sessions at the mosques in Kabul, the country’s capital.

The bans come only days after the Taliban forbade female students from attending nationwide universities.

These are the most recent restrictions imposed by Afghanistan’s new rulers against the rights and freedoms of women.

Since the ban was implemented, Afghan women have protested it in major cities—a rare instance of domestic unrest since the Taliban took control last year. The judgment has also sparked uproar on a global scale.

The NGO directive was issued in a letter from Afghanistan’s Economy Minister Qari Din Mohammed Hanif, who also threatened to cancel the operational license of any organization found to be disobeying the order.

Abdul Rahman Habib, the ministry’s spokesman, verified the letter’s contents to The Associated Press.

BREAKING: Only days after banning women from universities, the Taliban have reportedly BANNED women from working in NGOs. They have ordered all national and international organisations to fire their female employees. pic.twitter.com/PNyXr0M0tl

— Shabnam Nasimi (@NasimiShabnam) December 24, 2022

According to the ministry, it had been informed of “severe complaints” over NGO female employees who were not donning the “proper” headscarf or hijab.

It was unclear whether the directive applies to all women or Afghan women who work for NGOs.

There were questions about whether the most recent Taliban action was a prelude to a general ban on Afghan women leaving the house.

Therefore, more information was not immediately accessible.

Maliha Niazai, a master trainer with an NGO educating young people about issues including gender-based violence, described the news as “heartbreaking.” “Aren’t we all just humans? Why are they abusing us in this manner?”

The Kabul-based 25-year-old, who works for Y-Peer Afghanistan and supports her family alone, said her employment was crucial because it allowed her to serve her country.

“After this announcement, will the authorities still be on our side? If not, why are they stealing our food out of our lips?” She questioned.

The Norwegian Refugee Council employee, a 24-year-old Jalalabad native, described it as “the saddest moment of my life.”

She declined to provide her identity out of concern for her safety, saying, “The job gives me more than a living; it is a representation of all the efforts I’ve made.”

The UN denounced the NGO order, announcing that it would try to meet with the Taliban leadership to clarify matters.

A U.N. statement stated that “removal of women’s autonomy to determine their course of action, disempowerment, and systematic exclusion from all public spheres.

And political life moves the country backward, endangering attempts for any true peace or stability in the country.”

In a separate proclamation, Fazil Mohammad Hussaini, a Ministry of Hajj and Religious Affairs spokesman, stated late Saturday that “adult girls” are forbidden from attending Islamic classes in Kabul mosques.

While they may still attend independent madrassas or religious schools.

He did not provide any additional information or clarification on the ages covered by the prohibition or how it would be applied. Additionally, it was not stated why the rule only applies to Kabul mosques.

Eyewitnesses reported that earlier on Saturday, Taliban security forces used a water cannon to scatter women in the western city of Herat who protested the prohibition on women from attending universities.

Witnesses said that some 20 women were on their way to the Herat provincial governor’s residence on Saturday to protest the prohibition, many screaming, “Education is our right,”.

When they were repelled by security personnel using water cannons.

The woman can be seen screaming and ducking into a side street to avoid the water cannon in the video provided to the AP. They then start yelling, “Disgraceful!” as they protest again.

“Between 100 and 150 women, came from various sections of the city and assembled at the demonstration’s focal point in small groups,” according to Maryam, one of the protest organizers.

National Students Movement of @NDM_Official held a protest in Quetta against the Taliban's ban on women from universities in Afghanistan. NSM and NDM will be holding a protest in Mardan tomorrow. We stand in solidarity with Afghan women. #LetHerLearn pic.twitter.com/PPT9yuw7no

— Mohsin Dawar (@mjdawar) December 24, 2022

She hid her last name out of concern for negative repercussions.

She claimed that armored trucks, armed soldiers, and security were present in every square and street. “The Taliban hit us when we first began our demonstration in Tariqi Park by taking branches from the trees.

But we persisted in our objection. They stepped up their security coverage. They pulled out the water cannon around 11 a.m.”

“Only four or five demonstrators,” according to Hamidullah Mutawakil, a spokesman for the regional governor.

He continued, failing to mention the women’s abuse or the water cannon’s deployment, “They had no objective; they just came here to create a video.”

The university ban has received widespread international condemnation, including from Muslim-majority nations like Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar.

The United States and the G-7 group of major industrial nations have warned that the policy will have repercussions for the Taliban.

Nida Mohammad Nadim, Minister of Higher Education for the Taliban, first mentioned the prohibition on Thursday in an interview with Afghan state media.

He claimed that the ban was necessary to stop the mixing of the sexes at colleges and because he thought certain courses were being taught against Islamic beliefs.

“The prohibition would remain in effect until further notice,” he added.

Since taking control in August 2021, the Taliban have widely imposed their vision of Islamic law, or Sharia, despite initially pledging a more moderate government that would respect the rights of women and minorities.

They have prohibited girls from attending universities as well as middle and high schools and most occupations.

In addition, women have been told to cover up from head to toe in public and prohibited from using parks and gyms.

Despite being mostly traditional, Afghan society has become more open to girls and women’s education throughout the previous two decades of a U.S.-backed administration.

Dozens of Afghan refugee students protested against the prohibition on female higher education in their country on Saturday in Quetta, Pakistan, and demanded that campuses for women be opened up right away.

One of them, Bibi Haseena, delivered a poem that described the bleak circumstances facing Afghan girls who want to pursue an education.

She expressed regret about receiving her diploma from a foreign nation when hundreds of thousands of her Afghan sisters were denied an education.

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