The Taliban’s recent ban on women’s access to medical training drawn sharp criticism from U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who described the policy as “sick” and “heartless.”
“How will women’s health care needs be met in the future if there are no qualified women doctors, nurses, dentists, and midwives? Male doctors are not allowed to treat women,” Thomas-Greenfield said during a United Nations Security Council meeting on Afghanistan.
She warned that the restriction could represent a “death sentence” for Afghan women and girls in dire need of potentially lifesaving medical treatment, with devastating effects on mothers, unborn children, and the entire nation’s future.
“This is not cultural, and it’s not religious. It is unfathomable,” she added. “It means these men – the Taliban – are sentencing their mothers who birthed them, their sisters, their wives, and their daughters to die before their eyes if they become ill.”
Impact on Afghanistan’s future
The ban on medical education is the latest in a series of Taliban-imposed restrictions aimed at erasing women from public life, Thomas-Greenfield noted. She emphasized the catastrophic consequences of such policies, not only for Afghan women but also for the broader healthcare system and societal stability.
“The Taliban are determined to erase women’s futures, and this decision will have far-reaching consequences for Afghanistan’s ability to recover and rebuild,” she said.
A call for action
Thomas-Greenfield reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to standing with Afghan women, calling on the international community to intensify efforts to push the Taliban to rescind these discriminatory decrees. “The Taliban may try to silence your voices, but we see you and we hear you,” she declared.
The envoy urged for the inclusion of Afghan women in international engagement processes, such as the UN-led Doha Process, stressing that their participation is indispensable for a stable and prosperous Afghanistan.
