A senior Taliban official has claimed that Afghan women are the primary victims of the country’s worsening climate crisis, even as the group’s own restrictions on women continue to draw global condemnation.
Matiul Haq Khalis, head of the Taliban-run National Environmental Protection Agency, said that climate change and deteriorating environmental conditions disproportionately affect Afghan women.
“International organisations should not overlook women in their data collection and reporting,” Khalis said during a meeting in Kabul, according to Taliban-run Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) on Monday.
He also urged aid organisations not to tie their assistance to political issues.
“The people of Afghanistan are part of the global human community. The pain of this nation is the pain of all, and their problems are everyone’s problems,” Khalis said.
His remarks come despite the Taliban’s own policies, which have severely restricted women’s rights and participation in society. Since returning to power in 2021, the Taliban has barred Afghan women from working for most domestic and international organisations, including many delivering humanitarian aid.
The United Nations has previously reported that Taliban-imposed restrictions on women’s rights have significantly reduced international financial assistance to Afghanistan.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) also reported that violence against aid workers increased in April.
On 22 May, UN sources in Kabul told Afghanistan International that Taliban-affiliated individuals had followed and threatened female UN employees with death. Male relatives of the women were also warned to prevent them from going to work or face lethal consequences.
At least three UN sources in Kabul said Taliban gunmen targeted, followed, threatened and intimidated numerous female Afghan UN staff last week.
According to OCHA, there were seven incidents in April, including the detention of around 29 aid workers by Taliban authorities, as well as two additional cases of threats and verbal harassment.
Such incidents have severely undermined the ability of humanitarian workers to safely and effectively operate in the country.
