Taliban letter tells NGOs in Afghanistan to stop employing women or face closure

The Taliban have said they will close all national and foreign non-governmental groups (NGOs) in Afghanistan employing women.

It comes two years after they told NGOs to suspend the employment of Afghan women, allegedly because they did not wear the Islamic headscarf correctly.

In a letter published on social media platform X on Sunday night, the Economy Ministry warned that failure to comply with the latest order would lead to NGOs losing their licence to operate in Afghanistan.

The United Nations said the space for women in Afghanistan has shrunk dramatically in the last two years and reiterated its call for the Taliban to reverse the restrictions.

“This really impacts how we can provide life saving humanitarian assistance to all the people in Afghanistan,” UN associate spokesperson Florencia Soto Nino-Martinez said.

“And obviously we are very concerned by the fact that we are talking about a country where half the population’s rights are being denied and are living in poverty, and many of them, not just women, are facing a humanitarian crisis.”

The ministry said it was responsible for the registration, co-ordination, leadership and supervision of all activities carried out by national and foreign organisations.

The government was once again ordering the stoppage of all female work in institutions not controlled by the Taliban, according to the letter.

It is the Taliban’s latest attempt to control or intervene in NGO activity.

Earlier this month, the UN Security Council heard that an increasing proportion of female Afghan humanitarian workers were prevented from doing their work even though relief work remains essential.

According to Tom Fletcher, a senior UN official, the proportion of humanitarian organisations reporting that their female or male staff were stopped by the Taliban’s morality police has also increased.

The Taliban deny they are stopping aid agencies from carrying out their work or interfering with their activities.

They have already barred women from many jobs and most public spaces, and also excluded them from education beyond sixth grade.

In another development, Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada has ordered that buildings should not have windows looking into places where a woman might sit or stand.

According to a four-clause decree posted on X late Saturday, the order applies to new buildings as well as existing ones.