Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations (UN), Amina J. Mohammed, said that the Taliban needs to be moved from the ’13th century to the 21st’ following her visit to Afghanistan on January 25, reports Hasht-e Subh. She said she used every possible asset during her meetings with Taliban ministers to try to reverse their crackdown on Afghan women and girls, urging Muslim countries to help the Taliban move from the “13th century to the 21st.” She further said that four Taliban ministers, including the foreign minister,Amir Khan Muttaqi and a Deputy prime minister,Abdul Ghani Baradar, spoke “off one script” during meetings with her delegation last week.
United Nations (UN) Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Martin Griffiths said that the UN agencies will not be able to operate in a needed way if female employees cannot go back to work, Tolo News reported on January 26. He further said, “If we cannot get female employees back to work--which they are working in those two sectors and we are going to expand it, but if they weren’t--we would not be able to operate because we would not be able to deliver the kind of quality of programing we need. It is a practical matter.” He added, "We don’t have time to go back. We only have an insistence on going forward. Going forward is getting women allowed -- they are entitled to--but we need them anyway to deliver. So, the humanitarian priority that Afghanistan represents is probably the highest in the world. That is why you have seen these visits.”