Kandahar
\nThe Taliban say they will close all national and foreign nongovernmental groups in Afghanistan employing women, the latest crackdown on women\u2019s rights since they took power in August 2021.
\nThe announcement comes two years after they told NGOs to suspend the employment of Afghan women, allegedly because they didn\u2019t wear the Islamic headscarf correctly.
\nIn a letter published on X Sunday night, the Economy Ministry warned that failure to comply with the latest order would lead to NGOs losing their license to operate in Afghanistan.
\nThe 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.
\n\u201cThis really impacts how we can provide life saving humanitarian assistance to all the people in Afghanistan,\u201d UN associate spokesperson Florencia Soto Nino-Martinez said. \u201cAnd obviously we are very concerned by the fact that we are talking about a country where half the population\u2019s rights are being denied and are living in poverty, and many of them, not just women, are facing a humanitarian crisis.\u201d
\nThe Economy Ministry said it was responsible for the registration, coordination, leadership and supervision of all activities carried out by national and foreign organizations.
\nThe government was once again ordering the stoppage of all female work in institutions not controlled by the Taliban, according to the letter.
\n\u201cIn case of lack of cooperation, all activities of that institution will be canceled and the activity license of that institution, granted by the ministry, will also be canceled.\u201d
\nIt\u2019s the Taliban\u2019s latest attempt to control or intervene in NGO activity.
\nEarlier 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.
\nAccording to Tom Fletcher, a senior UN official, the proportion of humanitarian organizations reporting that their female or male staff were stopped by the Taliban\u2019s morality police has also increased.
\nThe Taliban deny they are stopping aid agencies from carrying out their work or interfering with their activities.
\nThey have already barred women from many jobs and most public spaces, and also excluded them from education beyond sixth grade.
\nIn another development, the Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada has ordered that buildings should not have windows looking into places where a woman might sit or stand.
\nAccording to a four-clause decree posted on X late Saturday, the order applies to new buildings as well as existing ones.
\nThe United Nations also called for a reversal of this restriction, Soto Nino-Martinez said.
\nThe decree said windows should not overlook or look into areas like yards or kitchens. Where a window looks into such a space then the person responsible for that property must find a way to obscure this view to \u201cremove harm,\u201d by installing a wall, fence or screen.
\nMunicipalities and other authorities must supervise the construction of new buildings to avoid installing windows that look into or over residential properties, the decree added.
\nA spokesman for the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing was not immediately available for comment on Akhundzada\u2019s instructions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kandahar The Taliban say they will close all national and foreign nongovernmental groups in Afghanistan employing women, the latest crackdown on women\u2019s rights since they took power in August 2021. The announcement comes two years after they told NGOs to suspend the employment of Afghan women, allegedly because they didn\u2019t wear the Islamic headscarf correctly. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":452851,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-452843","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n