The World Health Organisation (WHO) announced on Wednesday that Afghanistan is experiencing one of the harshest winter seasons in a long time. WHO stated that it has sent medicine and medical supplies to health facilities across several provinces.
According to WHO, health teams have visited hospitals in Bamiyan and other provinces to ensure necessary measures are in place for the winter.
Meanwhile, WHO has emphasised that women's work is highly important in providing health services, especially in the winter season across the country.
This is while the Taliban has banned Afghan women from working in non-governmental organisations.
WHO said that it salutes Afghanistan's female health workers "for their heroic sacrifices in serving the health needs of Afghans”.
The Railway Authority of Uzbekistan announced that transportation through the Hairatan-Mazar-i-Sharif railway route to Afghanistan has been suspended since Wednesday.
Uzbekistan stated that the Taliban has not been fulfilling its technical obligation and hence, the transportation services have been suspended.
The Uzbekistan officials have said that the railway administration under the control of the Taliban has not been able to implement the "agreed terms" between the two sides.
According to the Uzbek officials, representatives of Kabul and Tashkent had met to discuss the railway issues last year in Termez city.
During the meeting, it had been agreed that the technical steps would be implemented by the Taliban regarding railway transportation by February 1, 2023. However, it seems that the Taliban have not been able to act in accordance with the agreement signed by the two sides.
Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, in a press conference after meeting Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, said that the Taliban had committed to the formation of an inclusive government.
Lavrov added that the international community has urged the Taliban to fulfill their commitment.
He said that in order to recognise the Taliban government, a government is required which has the inclusion of all ethnic and political groups.
However, the Russian Foreign Minister emphasised that lack of an inclusive government is not an obstacle for Moscow's engagement with the Taliban.
Lavrov said that Russia would continue its talks with the Taliban to encourage the group to form an inclusive government.
Ahead of the presser, the Russian Foreign Minister had held closed doors talks with his Pakistani counterpart in Moscow.
During the joint press conference with Zardari, Lavrov added that terrorist threats continue to emerge from Afghanistan, and Moscow and Islamabad agreed to jointly work in the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
The Russian Foreign Minister did not elaborate more regarding the details of the agreements between the two sides, but added that they use the contact group of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, to deal with terrorist threats.
During the Taliban reign of Afghanistan, the Russian embassy and also the charge d'affaires of the Pakistani embassy in Kabul have been attacked in 2022.
ISIS had claimed responsibility for the attacks.
The United Nations’ Deputy Secretary General Amina Mohammed said that Afghan women have the skills and mindset to contribute to the Afghan economy. Mohammed added that it is time to give them their rightful space in the country.
She stressed, "We stand ready to find solutions so that women are not in the crosshairs of restrictions."
Mohammed also said that she discussed women's access to their rights during a meeting with Taliban officials in Kandahar.
At the end of her visit to Afghanistan, the Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations announced that she had conveyed to the Taliban that they must lift restrictions on Afghan women.
Soon after these statements, the Taliban imposed new restrictions on Afghan girls’ right to education and barred them from participating in the university entry exams of private universities in Afghanistan.
Former parliamentarian, Fawzia Koofi said that Taliban’s move to bar girls’ participation in the university entry exams shows that ban on education for girls is permanent. Koofi added that statements of international organisations on girls’ education no longer attract attention.
Former Vice-President, Amrullah Saleh, also said that the reopening of schools for girls is the desire of every citizen of Afghanistan and people must stand united against the Taliban.
Saleh said that Afghanistan is suffering from deep internal divisions due to the reign of the Taliban, but the right to education is the real common bond that can transcend divisions in the country.
The Taliban closed schools and universities for Afghan girls in 2022 and said that until further notice, Afghan girls can’t attend educational classes.
The group’s decision on education for girls has been met with international criticism and protests from Afghan female students.
In response to the criticisms and demands of the international community, the Taliban said that the ban is not permanent, and the group will reach a decision to reopen schools and universities in the framework of Sharia.
Emphasising that the world’s largest humanitarian operation – supporting some 28 million people in Afghanistan – simply cannot function without women staff, a UN-led group is hopeful of exemptions in the Taliban’s decree.
The humanitarians are hoping that the Taliban will allow Afghan women to again work with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on the ground following last month’s ban.
Four senior aid officials told journalists in New York on Monday that these humanitarians represent the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) and submitted a report regarding their mission in Afghanistan, urging Taliban to introduce more exemptions in all humanitarian aspects.
After some effort, Taliban authorities had authorised some women to continue working in the healthcare sector.
These humanitarians met Taliban officials and they were told that guidelines are being developed, and were asked to be patient, said Martin Griffiths, UN relief chief and the IASC chair, speaking during a press conference at UN Headquarters.
“I’m somebody who doesn’t like to speculate too much, because it is a matter of speculation. Let’s see if these guidelines do come through. Let’s see if they are beneficial. Let’s see what space there is for the essential and central role of women in our humanitarian operations,” he said.
“Our view is that the message has clearly been delivered: that women are central, essential workers in the humanitarian sector, in addition to having rights, and we need to see them back to work,” it stressed.
Humanitarians will require $4.6 billion to fund their activities in Afghanistan this year. Three years of drought-like conditions, economic decline, and the impacts of four decades of conflict, have left roughly two-thirds of the population, 28 million people, dependent on aid, with six million on the brink of starvation. Women comprise 30 per cent of the 55,000 Afghan nationals working for NGOs in the country.
Furthermore, many women aid workers are themselves the sole breadwinners for their families, which means many more households will go wanting.
The loss of these valuable workers also comes as Afghanistan is facing its coldest winter in 15 years, with temperatures falling to nearly -30 degrees Celsius, resulting in numerous deaths.