Bans on Afghan women cost Taliban national and international legitimacy
Following the restriction imposed by the de facto authorities on 5 April that prevents Afghan women from working for the United Nations, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan, Roza Otunbayeva, told the Security Council on Wednesday that the Taliban government has still not given an explanation for the ban, nor has it offered any guarantee that it will be lifted.
"We will not endanger our female national staff, so we ask them not to come to the office. At the same time, we ask all male national staff performing non-essential tasks to stay at home to respect the principle of non-discrimination. Finally, we stand firm: female national staff will not be replaced by male national staff, as some de facto authorities have suggested," she explained.
The head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) reminded the de facto authorities of Afghanistan's commitment under the UN Charter, as one of the first members of the United Nations in 1946.
"These include the obligation to respect the privileges and immunities of the United Nations and its officials, including the Afghan women who work for us," she said.
She therefore noted the contradiction in which the Taliban is asking to be recognised by the UN and its members, but at the same time acting contrary to the key values enshrined in the UN Charter.
Otunbayeva called for the lifting of bans on Afghan women working for the UN and the lifting of all previous restrictions on women and girls, such as those on female staff working for NGOs or diplomatic entities, or the ban on attending non-religious secondary and tertiary education institutions.
"Based on our discussions with many interlocutors across the country, it is also clear that these decrees are very unpopular with the Afghan population. They cost the Taliban national and international legitimacy, while inflicting suffering on half their population and damaging their economy".
Disparity between macroeconomic and household realities
In the view of the SRSG, the long series of restrictions imposed obscures some positive achievements of the de facto authorities, such as the ban on opium cultivation, which decreased considerably.
"At the same time, the opium economy has helped sustain parts of the rural economy in Afghanistan. Donors should consider allocating funds to alternative livelihood programmes that address the specific needs of farmers affected by the ban," she suggested.
Despite the apparent stability of the Afghan economy - with inflation declining, exchange rate stability being achieved and sufficient revenues to finance government operations - he pointed to the difficulties of the ordinary citizen.
"However, this macroeconomic stability coexists with severe household poverty. According to the World Bank, 58% of households struggle to meet basic needs. UN humanitarian efforts continue to address the needs of the nearly 20 million people in need of some form of assistance. Afghanistan, I must remind you, remains the world's largest humanitarian crisis".
Mixed progress on climate change and counter-terrorism
In the section on counter-terrorism, she described a mixed picture, as government efforts to counter the Afghan branch of ISIS were marred by attacks by the terrorist group against both the de facto authorities and the civilian population.
Finally, she expressed concern about Afghanistan's vulnerability to climate change, with multiple years of drought exacerbating the effects of conflict and poverty, a phenomenon that is causing internal population displacements "that could be destabilising".
Secret schools return to Afghanistan
Then, in an emotional speech, the co-founder and president of the Afghanistan Leadership School, Shabana Basij-Rasikh, founded in 2008 and now operating in Rwanda following the Taliban's return to power in 2021, recalled her grim childhood memories of Kabul under the Islamist organisation's rule.
"I never thought the Taliban would be in a position to bring me back to the darkness I lived in as a child in the 1990s, a child attending secret schools run by women in Kabul, a child living in fear because I was an Afghan girl, one of many, who wanted an education. Nothing more than that. We just wanted to go to school. And for that, our families and our teachers risked everything - everything - so that we could learn," she explained.
Basij-Rasikh confirmed the reopening of the secret schools in Kabul and other provinces, and noted the wide acceptance of her school, receiving nearly 2,000 applications from students from Afghan communities around the world.
"Two thousand Afghan girls. Two thousand Afghan families. Two thousand fires in the darkness, and each one of them represents the unquenchable and unconquerable desire for access to the basic human right of education. It is our task, the world's task, to ensure that these flames are never extinguished," she stressed.
Stressing that the secret to a stable and peaceful Afghanistan "is the education of girls," she made a couple of recommendations to the international community.
Ensure internet accessibility in the country and that Afghan refugees, especially female refugees, have access to quality education in their countries of residence.
Borders alone cannot contain the threat of extremism. Nor do they limit the benefits that educated girls bring. Decisions made here decide the spiralling trajectory on which my homeland spins: downwards, towards darkness, or upwards, rising, towards the hope of tomorrow.