The obscurantist edicts emanate from the Taliban leader, or emir, Hibatullah Akhundzada, who shrouds himself in secrecy in Kandahar. Rolling back the rights of women and girls oppresses half the population while sabotaging the Taliban’s other efforts at post-war economic recovery. It is rumoured to be planning even more draconian restrictions in the future. Nonetheless, the Taliban leadership adhered to its hard line. High-level delegations from the UN and aid groups met with Taliban leaders to raise their concerns. Students walked out of classrooms, and protesters chanted in the streets, but Taliban forces quashed all dissent. The December 2022 edicts on women’s higher education and employment in NGOs stunned even some Taliban officials who, dumbfounded by the tough orders they were asked to enforce, asked their bosses to reconsider. They should fund humanitarian appeals, help aid agencies uphold their principles, take steps to address the deeper problems underpinning the country’s socio-economic disaster and channel efforts at social change into long-term projects. Donors are justifiably frustrated, but they should stay focused on the aspirations and welfare of Afghans. It is vital to de-escalate the standoff between the Taliban and the outside world for the sake of preventing a downward spiral that would exacerbate the woes of Afghans. In response, many aid organisations paused their operations, sparking fears of greater misery as horrified Western donors threatened to cut aid and impose further isolation on Afghanistan’s beleaguered economy. The new regime in Kabul started imposing even stricter rules on women in the final weeks of 2022, with a pair of heavy-handed rulings banning them from studying in universities and working for NGOs. Upon returning to power in 2021, the Taliban installed one of the world’s most regressive governments, especially with regard to women’s rights. Donors should fund humanitarian appeals and try to create space for development agencies and address the country’s socio-economic disaster. Aid workers must pause and recalibrate when they cannot uphold humanitarian principles. What should be done? No good options exist for protecting women’s and girls’ rights and helping millions of people suffering under Taliban rule. The unrecognised regime’s isolation undermines humanitarian and development efforts. They are also impeding delivery of life-saving assistance, disrupting the world’s largest aid operation even as half the population suffers from acute hunger. Why does it matter? The new restrictions have dealt women’s freedoms a grievous blow. Neither his ideological views nor his quest for power will change in the near term, despite justifiably horrified reactions from around the world. Why did it happen? The Taliban leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, appears to insist upon these measures out of personal conviction and to assert his authority over the movement and the country. Girls and women are losing access to education, employment and public spaces as well as other basic freedoms. What’s new? The Taliban have ordered the most sweeping rollbacks of women’s rights since retaking power in 2021, part of a series of escalating moves to enforce the group’s heterodox conservatism.
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