The UNAMA has stopped its cash aid shipment to Afghanistan in reaction to the ban on women aid workers, Hasib Noori Da Afghanistan Bank spokesperson said, Amu TV reported.
This follows the IEA’s ban on women attending public and private universities on December 20 and its subsequent ban on women working for NGOs on December 24, which prompted criticism of aid organizations claiming they could not carry out their humanitarian assistance without female employees.
Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 2021, the international community has contributed 40 to 80 million dollars every week to the country’s economy, and the Central Bank officials have tweeted about the infusion of funds each week, according to Noori.
However, there was utter silence for a few weeks because the Bank made no announcements.
In addition, Martin Griffiths, the UN’s lead humanitarian coordinator, declared that the Taliban’s restriction on NGOs employing women had forced the suspension of the UN flight transporting money for humanitarian aid into Kabul, BBC reported.
Griffith’s announcement forced the Central bank officials to admit that the cash aid had been halted.
He also told BBC that the UN-supplied aid could not continue if the Taliban did not lift their ban on women working for humanitarian aid agencies in Afghanistan.
“Without women working, we cannot deliver for the people who are, in fact, the primary objects of humanitarian assistance for women and girls. So it is a practical matter. It is beyond rights. It is also practical,” he said.
Since then, five top NGOs halted their work in Afghanistan; Care International, the Norwegian Refugee Council, and Save the Children announced that they could not continue their work “without our female staff.”
According to Da Afghanistan Bank announcements, since August 2021, the international community have donated a total of 1.7 billion USD in cash to the IEA government.
