The Taliban’s restriction on women working in Afghanistan’s assistance sector did not deter the UN, which declared on Thursday that it would continue to do so.
Ramiz Alakbarov, the UN Resident Coordinator in Afghanistan, told reporters, “Let me make it very clear that the United Nations and humanitarian partners are highly committed to the delivery of life-saving assistance to the people of Afghanistan.”
Alakbarov stated that Afghanistan’s humanitarian needs are “extremely immense” after the G7 condemned the hardline Islamists’ behaviour as “reckless and dangerous.”
Without women’s participation, he continued, “we do not believe that comprehensive humanitarian action can be delivered.”
But he continued, “It’s crucial that we stay and deliver.” Assistance is never contingent. A starving or dying person cannot be conditional about giving them food or medical care.
He said that the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator and other UN representatives would travel to Afghanistan in the upcoming weeks to speak with the Taliban leaders, who recently barred women from attending universities, about the current state of affairs.
“Based on my interactions with the Taliban, I think that the best approach to finding a solution is not to apply pressure. It is a conversation. In the past, this movement hasn’t handled pressure well. He cited talks with the health minister as evidence that UN representatives have already had multiple “productive” discussions with Taliban authorities about the circumstance.
Without medical personnel, it will be impossible to provide health services to women and girls, he stated. The minister, according to him, concurred that there shouldn’t be a barrier and that the female service providers may resume their jobs.
With the realisation that this is a fundamental right of others, Alakbarov stated, “We are working under one thing alone, and that is resolution of the bottleneck and getting negotiations going so the women can go back to work and the girls can go back to school.” “We must concentrate on identifying solutions.”
