Taliban authorities have barred women from entering United Nations compounds in Kabul since Sunday, according to sources from the organization.
Sources said Taliban guards stopped female employees and visitors around 8 a.m. Sunday at the UN Office Complex in Afghanistan, known as UNOCA, and ordered women already inside to leave.
On Monday, Sept. 8, Taliban blocked women again at the UN’s Baron compound near Kabul airport, sources said.
The restrictions are being enforced by the Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice on the orders of the Taliban’s supreme leader, sources said. Neither the Taliban nor the United Nations has issued an official statement.
Since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, women in many provinces have been barred from entering UN offices. Sources said the new directive could soon extend to other major cities, including Herat and Mazar-i-Sharif.
In April 2023, the Taliban ordered all female UN staff in Afghanistan to stop working. At the time, UN officials said they could not operate in the country without women employees, warning the ban could halt humanitarian assistance.
