The United Nations is ready to make the "heartbreaking" decision to pull out of Afghanistan in May if it can't persuade the Taliban to let local women work for the organization, the head of the UN Development Program said. UN officials are negotiating with the Taliban for an exception to an edict barring local women from working for the organization, UNDP administrator Achim Steiner told the Associated Press. The Taliban has allowed Afghan women to engage in some work, Steiner said, and a UN report released on April 18 shows that the country desperately needs more women working, with its economy flailing. To read the original story by AP, click here.
UN Says Leaving Afghanistan Would Be 'Heartbreaking'
A trainee midwife examines a woman at a hospital in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, in March in a program spearheaded by the UN refugee agency with a local NGO.