Aid chief: Taliban decrees against women paralyzing NGO work

By RIAZAT BUTT
Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An aid agency chief has told The Associated Press that the Taliban’s “internal debates and extreme decrees” are paralyzing humanitarian work in Afghanistan. The head of the Norwegian Refugee Council was speaking in an interview with the AP after he arrived in the capital Kabul on Sunday to meet Taliban leaders about reversing a ban against women working in NGOs in the country. The Norwegian aid chief will also visit the southern city of Kandahar because he says the Taliban’s ideological and religious decrees are coming from the leadership there. Authorities barred Afghan women from working at NGOs, allegedly because they weren’t wearing the Islamic headscarf correctly. The ban follows a slew of moves that have severely limited or suspended women’s rights and education.