Several international groups say they are returning to Afghanistan -- mired in one of the planet's worst humanitarian crises -- to administer aid after receiving assurances from Taliban officials that female workers would be allowed to carry out their duties.
CARE, Save the Children, and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) said they were returning to the country after suspending operations late last year after the Taliban authorities sharply curtailed women's rights, effectively banning women from working for NGOs operating in Afghanistan.
"CARE will be resuming its health and nutrition operations in Afghanistan after obtaining the necessary assurances from the Ministry of Public Health that our female staff will be able to carry out their work safely and unfettered, both in community-based and support roles," the organization, which focuses on working alongside women and girls to lift them out of poverty, said in a statement.
CARE, which has been working in Afghanistan since 1961 and operates 30 Mobile Health Teams in seven provinces, said it is "hopeful that the ban will be reversed, but in the meantime [we] will continue to look for ways to move forward that will allow both female and male workers to provide life-saving work –especially to Afghan women and girls – in all sectors."
Despite pledging to back away from the brutal rule it employed during its first stint in power from 1996-2001, the Taliban has moved to restrict freedoms for women since retaking control of the country in August 2021 as international troops withdrew.
Most recently, Taliban authorities on December 20 ordered public and private universities to close their doors to women immediately until further notice.
A few days later the country's rulers ordered all domestic and international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to prevent female employees from working at their jobs.
Save The Children said earlier this week it was restarting some of its activities "where reliable assurances had been given for a full and safe return to work for its female staff."
The IRC said last week that it had restarted health and nutrition services in four provinces and was in talks with officials to return to more areas of the country "while also engaging to secure the assurances required to allow our female staff to safely return to work in other sectors."