Afghanistan: NGOs Resume Some Operations With Female Staff

Facts

• At least three major aid organizations have partially resumed work in Afghanistan after receiving assurances from Taliban authorities that female staff can work in fields such as health and nutrition.
• The aid organizations CARE, Save the Children, and International Rescue Committee (IRC) said that they have resumed their work in the health sector in recent days. Their operations had been suspended since the Taliban banned Afghan women from working in the aid sector in late December.
• While the Taliban's acting Ministry of Economy, which ordered the ban, stated that female health workers returned to work in accordance with "our religious and cultural values," negotiations are reportedly underway to also permit women to resume work in other sectors.
• Meanwhile, hundreds of Afghan women are reported to have returned to work for international NGOs. Of the 36M Afghans, nearly 19M are facing acute food insecurity, and more than 29M people are in need of humanitarian assistance.
• On Monday, a UN delegation arrived in Kabul for talks after Secretary-General António Guterres last week condemned the Taliban's crackdown on women's and girls' rights, accusing them of establishing a system of "gender-based apartheid."
• After the Taliban returned to power in Aug. 2021, they gradually reinstated restrictions on women's freedoms. On Dec. 20, female students were banned from attending universities, followed by an order preventing NGOs from employing female staff.

Sources: Al Jazeera, RFI, The Hindu, Voa, France24, and Rferl.

Narratives

• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by National News. The outrage over the restriction of women's rights under the Taliban regime is entirely justified. However, it is the families of Afghan women who suffered from the withdrawal of some 150 aid agencies that suspended their operations over the ban on women's staffing. Isolating Afghanistan is counterproductive and halting aid work contradicts the principles of neutrality and humanitarianism. This played into the Taliban's hands.
• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by New York Times. Through their repressive policies, the Taliban have deprived many Afghan women of their livelihoods, multiplying the plight of millions of Afghans. The fact that women may now work for NGOs in the health sector again is no more than a first step. The general ban on employment has made the work of many aid organizations in the country almost impossible and violates humanitarian principles.