Today: 5 July 2025
26 January 2023
1 min read

Taliban mulls new rules for female NGO workers

Several aid agencies, who rely enormously on their Afghan female staff have already suspended their operations…reports Asian Lite News

A top UN official said that the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan are planning to set up new rules to allow women to work in some humanitarian operations.

Speaking to the BBC, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths said he had received “encouraging responses” from a wide range of Taliban Ministers during talks in Kabul, even if last month’s edict banning Afghan women working for NGOs was not reversed.

“It’s worth remembering that, this year, Afghanistan is the biggest humanitarian aid programme in the world ever,” Griffiths said.

This year, agencies will try to reach 28 million Afghans, more than half the population, including six million who are “knocking on famine’s door”, the top UN official told the BBC.

This week, Griffiths has held back-to-back meetings in Kabul with senior Taliban government leaders about the edict banning Afghan women from working with aid organisations.

“If women do not work in humanitarian operations, we do not reach, we do not count, the women and girls we need to listen to. In all humanitarian operations around the world, women and girls are the most vulnerable,” he said.

“I think they’re listening… and they told me they will be issuing new guidelines in due course which I hope will help us reinforce the role of women.”

Griffiths’s trip to Kabul comes in the wake of last week’s visit by the UN’s second-in-command Amina Mohammed.

But Afghanistan is witnessing the coldest winter in a decade, the window is closing for an urgent relief effort.

Several aid agencies, who rely enormously on their Afghan female staff have already suspended their operations.

“I cannot think of an international priority as high as this one to keep this extraordinarily important massive programme alive,” Griffiths told the BBC.

ALSO READ: India a bright spot with estimated growth of 5.8%

Previous Story

Zina Saro Wiwa recalls inspiring memories of her father

Next Story

Fresh iranian sanctions target EU, UK individuals, entities

Latest from -Top News

BRICS must break the digital chains

BRICS nations need to build consensus, balance innovation and social justice by reinforcing the digital sovereignty of Global South, including evenly distribution of benefits through AI, writes Baidya Bikash Basu BRICS, the

G42 AI tool boosts procurement by 40%

Abu Dhabi’s tech giant leads the charge in AI-driven operational transformation with (In)Business Procurement platform. Abu Dhabi-based global technology powerhouse G42 has taken a major leap in enterprise digital transformation with the

ADX, banks launch region’s first digital bond

Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) has launched the pricing phase for the region’s first distributed ledger technology (DLT)-based bond, setting a new benchmark in financial innovation and blockchain integration. The bond, issued

Saudi, Indonesia seal $27bn in deals

Saudi Arabia and Indonesia deepen ties with $27bn in agreements, boosting trade, energy, defence and pilgrimage cooperation, signalling a new chapter in strategic partnership. Saudi Arabia and Indonesia inked a raft of

UN urges investments in Syria

Rebuilding Syria requires not only emergency relief but sustained investment in basic services, economic recovery, and stability, says UN Office in Syria. A high-level United Nations delegation has called for increased international
Go toTop

Don't Miss

UNSC not holding discussions on sending peacekeeping mission to Af

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday that Paris and

Displaced families return home in Afghanistan

The incumbent Taliban government has launched a process to transfer