Afghan Taliban restrain UN’s women staff from working

KABUL: Afghan women who are United Nations employees have been blocked from work in eastern Nangarhar province, the UN mission said on Tuesday, warning Taliban authorities its aid programmes are impossible without its staff.

In December, Taliban officials ordered all foreign and domestic NGOs to stop women personnel working across the crisis-stricken nation.

Several suspended their entire operations in protest, piling further misery on Afghanistan’s 38 million citizens, half of whom are facing hunger according to aid agencies.

After days of wrangling, it was agreed women working in the health aid sector would be exempt from the decree. UN staff, including those in the aid sector, were never beholden to the ban.

But on Tuesday the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said “female national UN staff have been prevented from reporting to work” in the eastern province of Nangarhar.

Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said he was seeking information on the matter.