Several NGOs Halt Operations After Recent Ban On Woman Workers, Humanitarian Crisis Deepens In Afghanistan: Report

Some NGOs have halted operations in reaction to a recent Taliban government order forbidding Afghan women from working in aid, making it more difficult to reach women recipients across the country.

Following a recent Taliban government order prohibiting Afghan women from working in aid, some non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have suspended their operations, making it more difficult to reach women beneficiaries in the country, news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) posted a video on Saturday.

In the midst of an ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Afghanistan, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) initiated an aid distribution drive for over 47,000 Afghan families on Friday, according to Tolo News.

According to the report, the OIC's chief in Kabul, Muhammad Saeed Al-Ayash, this help will reach at least 2,80,000 people across 25 provinces in the country.

Al-Ayash reportedly stated that "This project includes 47,400 food packages. Every package is 62 kilograms and includes flour, rice, oil, date, ben, and sugar that will be distributed to families in need".

According to the same Tolo News report, the acting head of the Afghan Red Crescent Society, Matiullahaq Khalis, stated that the OIC help will be distributed to disadvantaged people and those who deserve it throughout Afghanistan.

The OIC decision was welcomed by those who are now suffering from the protracted situation. "We hope they continue their aid to all parts of Afghanistan," people stated, according to the Tolo News report. "All Afghans have been struggling with economic problems," claimed another Kabul resident. "I am also affected by it. There is no work".

Residents in Herat remarked that gas is their only option for warming their homes during the harsh winters because firewood and other basic necessities are too expensive in the country.

"It was cold outdoors, so my family put on the heat. If I had arrived five minutes late, I would have lost 21 members of my family," said Abdul Qadir, a Herat resident who accompanied his family to the province's regional hospital.

"Within the last 24 hours, 130 to 140 patients have been brought to the hospital's emergency ward," hospital head Ahmad Farhad Afzali said in another Tolo News report.

A rapid drop in temperature has severely impacted residents in the troubled country, who are already suffering from poverty and a lack of food and fuel. Cold has killed at least 16 people in four provinces, the report said.

(With Inputs From Agencies)