UN may make ‘heartbreaking’ decision to leave Afghanistan

The UN said yesterday that it was ready to make the “heartbreaking” decision to leave Afghanistan, after the Taliban government imposed strict conditions on how it operates.

This month, the Taliban barred female employees of UN agencies from working in the country, describing the decision as an “internal issue”.

In response, the UN said it was considering whether to continue operating in Afghanistan. But UN deputy secretary general Amina Mohammed insisted: “Giving up on women’s rights in Afghanistan is simply not an option.”

The Taliban regained power in August 2021, after a western- backed government collapsed following the withdrawal of western military forces.

Critics of the Taliban said they reneged on promises to keep schools open for girls up to the sixth grade, a decision the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan described as a “cruel blow to the rights of Afghan women”.

UN Development Programme administrator Achim Steiner said negotiations with the Taliban on the status of women staff were continuing, but so far talks on the issue had not been successful.

“It is fair to say that where we are right now is the entire United Nations system having to take a step back and re-evaluate its ability to operate there,” Mr Steiner said.

“There is no other way of putting it than heartbreaking.”

Meanwhile, a report released by UNDP yesterday warned that Afghanistan’s economy will contract and inflation will rise if there is a 30 per cent drop in international aid as feared.

International officials say aid to Afghanistan – the recipient of the world’s largest humanitarian programme – will drop sharply this year as donors assess global crises and because of Taliban restrictions on women aid workers.

With a drop of 30 per cent, gross domestic product – the sum of all goods and services produced within Afghanistan’s borders – would shrink by 0.4 per cent this year, UNDP analysis has shown.

If international aid to Afghanistan had continued at the $3.7 billion received last year, the economy had been projected to grow by 1.3 per cent.