UNO: The Taliban leaders in Afghanistan received a warning from the UN representative for the region on Wednesday, saying that maintaining international recognition as the nation's legitimate government will remain "nearly impossible" unless they remove severe barriers to women's and girls' employment and education.
According to Roza Otunbayeva, the Taliban have asked the UN and its 192 other member countries to recognise them, "but at the same time they act against the key values expressed in the United Nations Charter."
She claimed that in their regular conversations, "I am blunt about the obstacles they have created for themselves by the decrees and restrictions they have enacted, particularly against women and girls."
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In August 2021, as US and NATO troops were preparing to leave Afghanistan after two decades of conflict, the Taliban took control of the nation. Foreign aid to the nation, whose citizens are experiencing the worst humanitarian crisis in history, has been impacted by the group's decrees restricting the participation of girls and women.
When they took over in 2021, the Taliban had initially pledged a more moderate government than they had under their previous rule from 1996 to 2001. However, they soon began to impose restrictions on women and girls. Most jobs and public spaces, such as parks, swimming pools, and gyms, are off-limits to women, and girls are not allowed to continue their education past the sixth grade.
Additionally, the Taliban have returned with their strict interpretation of Shariah, or Islamic law, which includes public executions.
Otunbayeva reported that despite UN requests, there had been no change to the restrictions, including an April ban on Afghan women working for the UN. According to her, Afghanistan's obligations as a UN member country to respect the privileges and immunities of the UN and its officials, including Afghan women, were violated by the prohibition.
Former president of Kyrgyzstan Otunbayeva reaffirmed that all Afghan non-essential staff, both men and women, are still staying at home and that the UN is "steadfast" in its position that female national staff will not be replaced by male staff, "as some Taliban authorities have suggested."
The Security Council unanimously voted in favour of a resolution in late April that urged the Taliban to immediately ease the increasingly severe restrictions placed on women and girls. It also denounced the Taliban's ban on Afghan women working for the UN, calling it "unprecedented in the history of the United Nations."
According to Otunbayeva, it is evident from conversations she has had with numerous individuals across Afghanistan that the Taliban's laws "are highly unpopular among the Afghan population" and cost the government of that nation "both domestic and international legitimacy, while inflicting suffering on half of their population and damaging their economy."
She provided council members with an honest political assessment, stating that the Taliban government "remains insular and autocratic," with "an unaccountable central authority" and an almost entirely male government from its Pashtun and rural populations.
Otunbayeva stated that while the Afghan economy "remains stable, albeit at a low equilibrium," 58 percent of households struggle to meet their families' essential needs, and the UN continues to provide aid to 20 million people.
Cash shipments, which are essential for UN humanitarian efforts, "are expected to decrease as donor funding declines," according to the spokeswoman, which could have a bad impact on Afghanistan's monetary stability. The international community "can do more to ensure the future stability of the Afghan economy in a way that directly improves the lives of Afghans," she added, despite the bans.
1.2 million tonnes of food could be destroyed by the widespread locust infestation that is wreaking havoc on Afghanistan's northern provinces, according to the humanitarian organisation Save The Children on Monday.
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According to the report, the infestation has struck at the worst possible time, with over 15 million people—or one-third of Afghanistan's population—projected to experience crisis-level hunger over the next five months. In the past two months, 8 million Afghans have been cut off from food aid due to funding shortages.