The Taliban are refusing Afghan women to do work for the UN in the country, the UN said in a statement.

The United Nations responded by asking all employees in the country, both men and women, not to come to work for security reasons.

The Taliban on Tuesday banned female UN staff from working in the country’s eastern Nangarhar province. The United Nations says it cannot run emergency aid in the country without all of its staff.

Aid organizations have pointed out that female employees are especially important in Afghanistan, where rules and customs largely prohibit male employees from providing emergency assistance to female recipients.

UN Secretary General António Guterres, through his spokesman Stephane Dujarric, condemned the decision.

– This is an inalienable violation of women’s human rights, said Dujarric.

– Women employees are essential to the work of the United Nations, including in work providing life-saving assistance. This decision will be detrimental to the Afghan people, millions of whom need this assistance, he further said.

In December, the Taliban for a period refused female aid workers to work in Afghanistan, severely affecting humanitarian work in the country. A number of aid organizations have temporarily suspended their aid in the country in protest, forcing the Taliban to reverse course.

The Taliban took power in Afghanistan in August 2021 as Western troops got serious about their long overdue plan to withdraw from the country.

(© NTB)