EU & US condemn Taliban ban on women working for NGOs in Afghanistan
The EU on Saturday condemned the Taliban's ban on women working for NGOs in Afghanistan and said it was assessing the impact on its aid in the country. Meanwhile, officials from the United Nations and dozens of NGOs met in Kabul to discuss the situation. "The European Union strongly condemns the Taliban's recent decision to ban women from working in national and international NGOs," a spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told AFP in a statement.
"We are assessing the situation and the impact it will have on our aid on the ground."
The Taliban, the fundamentalist Islamic rulers of Afghanistan, have ordered non-governmental organisations in the country to stop women employees from working.
The Ministry of Economy on Saturday threatened to suspend the operating licences of NGOs if they failed to implement the order.
The latest restriction comes less than a week after the Taliban leadership banned women from attending universities, after already having banned teenage girls from high school. Women have also been pushed out of government jobs.
EU is a major supporter of NGOs and international aid organizations.
