Banning women from working: The European Union and the United States are calling on the Taliban to rethink

The European Union, the United States and eleven other countries have called for the ban on women working for NGOs in Afghanistan to be lifted.

“The Taliban’s harsh and dangerous orders to exclude female workers of national and international NGOs from the workplace endanger millions of Afghans whose survival depends on humanitarian assistance,” the statement said.

It was signed by the foreign ministers of the United States, Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and the European Union.

Taliban refers to the dress code

The United Nations has already lobbied for the withdrawal of the ban imposed by the radical Islamist rulers. The UN said, “The exclusion of women from humanitarian work has immediate, life-threatening consequences for all Afghans. Already, some time-sensitive programs have been paused due to a shortage of female staff.”

The Taliban justified this step by saying that some women did not abide by the stipulated interpretation of Islamic dress. After further restrictions on women’s rights, many international aid organizations have temporarily suspended their work in the country. Last week, the Taliban banned female students in the country from private and public universities with immediate effect. Girls were barred from secondary school in March.