The United States and the United Nations have suspended some cash deliveries to Afghanistan as the U.N. Security Council prepares to hold an extraordinary closed-door meeting to discuss the Taliban’s decision to ban women from working with some international charities. The moves follow reports that the Islamists controlling the country are diverting humanitarian aid to their own supporters to shore up their base amid growing challenges to their rule.
Martin Griffiths, the U.N.’s undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, told the BBC last week that the U.N. has stopped cash deliveries to Afghanistan while it investigates the impact of the Taliban edict against women’s employment by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). “We have called for a pause to assess precisely where this is going,” he said.
The ban on women working for national and international NGOs was announced on Dec. 24 and was greeted by many Afghans as an expected continuation of the misogynistic policies that have been rolling out since the Taliban regained control of the country in August 2021. It does not apply to the U.N., which has about two dozen agencies operating in Afghanistan. The U.N. has, however, suspended much of its work in the country, despite also acknowledging that doing so exacerbates the hardship of millions of people it purports to help. The U.N. did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
