Head of UN Women meets the Taliban over ban on women aid workers

Top UN officials stress need to ‘uphold human rights’ and find ways to resume relief efforts

Top officials of the United Nations met with Taliban authorities to talk about the ban on women workers from workplaces, including aid agencies, and raised concerns over its impact on ongoing relief programmes in the crisis-stricken country.

Amina Mohammed, the UN’s most senior woman member and Sima Bahous, the head of UN Women, arrived in Kabul on Wednesday and held a meeting with the acting foreign minister of the Taliban regime, which has imposed a brutal ban on women’s employment and stopped women and girls from attending high school and university.

Ms Mohammed also met with UN staff, aid groups, and Afghan women “to take stock of the situation, convey solidarity, and discuss ways to promote and protect women’s and girls rights”, deputy UN spokesman Farhan Haq said in New York.