Families are in desperate straits, the security situation is worsening \u2013 but the Taliban\u2019s priority is punishing half the population<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The Taliban\u2019s relentless campaign against women is not only a matter of rights, but of survival. It is not only cruel and oppressive, but deadly. In a country already on its knees, where 97% of the population live in poverty, two-thirds need humanitarian assistance, 20 million face acute hunger and parents sell kidneys to feed their families, it has made life still more desperate. By banning women from working for NGOs, they are denying essential, life-saving services to women and children. Almost all the large aid agencies have suspended operations and the United Nations has paused some \u201ctime-critical\u201d programmes. Major world powers have urged<\/a> the Taliban to immediately reverse their \u201creckless and dangerous\u201d decision, while UN agency chiefs described female staff as key to every aspect of the humanitarian response.<\/p>\n In many cases, these staff \u2013 who number in the tens of thousands \u2013 are also the only breadwinners in their households. Denying them their salaries ensures that women, children (and, incidentally, men too) will starve. The Taliban\u2019s earlier decision to bar women from universities<\/a> \u2013 and reportedly even primary education<\/a> \u2013 means that no more female doctors or teachers will be trained. Teenage girls have already been kept out of school for almost a year and a half.<\/p>\n