UN halts programs after Taliban diktat

India

lekhaka-Deepak Tiwari

‘Time-critical’ programs
in
Afghanistan
have
temporarily
been
stopped
as
Taliban
bans
women
in
NGOs.
Several
other
activities
too
have
to
be
paused
as
they
are
run
entirely
by
women
aid
workers,
warns
UN.

New
Delhi,
Dec
29:
The
misogynistic
proclamations
of
Taliban,
the
Islamic
fundamentalist
organisation
that
rules
Afghanistan
now,
have
come
at
a
time
when
the
country
is
facing
a
huge
economic
crisis
and
most
of
its
population
needs
international
aid.
After
the
Taliban
asked
voluntary
organisations
to
terminate
the
services
of
women
workers,
the
United
Nations
too
has
stopped
its
operations
in
the
country
for
the
time
being.

The
UN
has
said
that
some
‘time-critical’ programs
in
Afghanistan
have
temporarily
stopped.
The
organization
has
also
warned
that
several
other
activities
will
also
likely
need
to
be
paused
as
some
of
them
are
run
entirely
by
the
women
aid
workers,
London-based
‘The
Guardian’
has

reported.

No
place
for
working
women

The
word
‘Taliban’
comes
from
the
Arabic
word
‘Talib’,
which
means
a
student
or
trainee.
So
Taliban
means
‘the
students
of
Islam’.
For
decades,
they
have
been
the
face
of
fundamentalist
Islam
and
another
name
of
terror
in
Afghanistan
and
Pakistan.
Now
that
they
are
in
power,
the
ugly
manifestations
of
their
religious
ideology
have
come
to
the
fore.
Their
anti-women
approach
was
visible
as
soon
as
they
usurped
the
power.
The
first
diktat
was
to
ban
women
from
education.

Now,
Taliban
rulers
ban
women
from
working
for
domestic,
foreign
NGOs

Quite
recently,
the
Taliban
came
up
with
a
blanket
ban
on
the
women
NGO
workers
in
their
country.
This
has,
however,
not
gone
well
with
the
UN
and
other
international
aid
agencies
operating
in
Afghanistan.
According
to
UN
Aid
chief
Martin
Griffiths,
women’s
participation
in
aid
delivery
is
not
negotiable.
Griffiths
made
it
clear
that
women
aid
workers
should
be
allowed
and
sought
the
Taliban
to
reverse
its
decision.

It’s
life-threatening

Banning
women
from
humanitarian
work
has
immediate
life-threatening
consequences.
In
a
press
note,
the
UN
said
that
the
fact
cannot
be
ignored
that
the
operational
constraints
now
facing
us
as
a
humanitarian
community.
Nonetheless,
the
UN
will
always
endeavour
to
continue
lifesaving,
time-critical
activities.
However,
if
the
restrictions
on
women
aid
workers
are
there,
they
would
have
to
stop
for
the
time
being.

The
UN
says
that
it
cannot
deliver
humanitarian
aid
without
the
help
from
female
aid
workers
as
they
have
been
playing
a
crucial
role
all
these
years.
Criticising
the
Taliban
move,
it
also
admitted
that
banning
women
from
humanitarian
work
has
immediate
life-threatening
consequences
for
all
Afghans.

Taliban
seeks
India
help
to
tame
economic
woes

The
latest
decision
by
the
UN
to
pause
its
humanitarian
assistance
in
Afghanistan
has
come
after
the
foreign
ministers
of
the
EU,
US,
Britain
and
12
other
countries
urged
Taliban
to
reverse
its
anti-women
diktat.
Will
the
Taliban
pay
heed
to
the
voice
of
reason?