Taliban investigating death threats against United Nations’ Afghan female staff, report says

The UN flag flies on a stormy day at the United Nations during the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)

ISLAMABAD — The Taliban are investigating explicit death threats against dozens of Afghan women working for the United Nations, according to a report published Sunday.

In its latest update on the human rights situation in Afghanistan, the U.N. mission to the country said that dozens of female national staff were subjected to explicit death threats in May.

The threats come against a backdrop of severe restrictions placed on women since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in 2021.

The U.N. report said the threats came from unidentified individuals related to their work with the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, or UNAMA, other agencies, funds, and programs, “requiring the U.N. to implement interim measures to protect their safety.”

It said that the Taliban told the U.N. mission that their personnel were not responsible for the threats. An Interior Ministry investigation is underway, the report added.

The Interior Ministry spokesman, Abdul Mateen Qani, said no such threats had been made.

“This is completely incorrect,” Qani said. “The ministry has an independent department for this, and we have a strategic plan for protection and security so there is no threat to them in any area, nor can anyone threaten them, nor is there any threat to them.”

Qani did not answer questions about an investigation.

The Taliban barred Afghan women from working at domestic and foreign nongovernmental organizations in December 2022, extending this ban to the U.N. six months later, and then threatening to shut down agencies and groups still employing women. Some women have nonetheless stayed on in key sectors, such as health care and urgent humanitarian assistance, where aid agencies say the needs are great.

Humanitarian agencies say the Taliban have hampered or interfered with their operations, allegations denied by authorities.

The U.N. report is the first official confirmation of death threats against Afghan women working in the sector. The report also highlighted other areas affecting women’s personal freedoms and safety.

In Herat, inspectors from the Vice and Virtue Ministry began requiring women to wear a chador, a full-body cloak covering the head. Dozens of women deemed “not in compliance” were barred from entering markets or using public transportation. Several women were detained until relatives brought them a chador, the report said.

In Uruzgan, women were arrested for wearing a hijab -- a headscarf -- rather than a burqa covering the entire body and face.

Women have also been denied access to public areas, in line with laws banning them from such spaces. In Ghor province, police forced several families to leave a recreational area. They warned the families against visiting outdoor picnic sites with women.

In Herat, Vice and Virtue inspectors stopped family groups with women and girls from accessing an open recreational area, only allowing all-male groups.

Nobody from the Vice and Virtue Ministry was immediately available to comment on the Ghor, Herat and Uruzgan incidents, which the U.N. said happened in May.

In Kandahar, the Public Health Department instructed female health care workers to be accompanied to work by male guardians with an identification card proving that they were related to the woman by blood or marriage.

It wasn’t immediately clear if the card is specific to Kandahar or will be rolled out across Afghanistan.

“The process to apply for a mahram (male guardian) identification card is reportedly cumbersome and can take up to several weeks as it requires the de facto Department for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice and a member of the local community (e.g. malik, imam or village elder) to verify the relationship,” the U.N. report said.

The Associated Press