UN: Taliban restrictions on women violate agreements and hinder humanitarian aid.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has called for the immediate lifting of the ban on female staff entering the organization’s offices, stressing that the Taliban’s decision has jeopardized the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Afghan people.
UNAMA has warned that such restrictions are a clear violation of international law and previous agreements between the Taliban and the United Nations.
Local sources say that the Taliban have recently prevented female UN staff from entering offices in Kabul, Herat and Mazar-e-Sharif.
Observers believe that this measure is more a tool for political pressure and gaining concessions from the international community than an ideological belief. According to analysts, the Taliban are trying to use the issue of women’s work as a bargaining chip in their interactions with international organizations.
This contradiction becomes more apparent when the Taliban, on the one hand, ban women from working inside the country, and on the other hand, send women as diplomats to foreign countries.
Experts say such a policy shows that the Taliban’s restrictions are more instrumental than anything else, aimed at gaining legitimacy and privileges from the United Nations and other global institutions.
