KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The head of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), Jan Egeland, on Thursday criticized what he called the “hypocrisy” of countries that demand rights for Afghan women and girls while cutting humanitarian assistance that supports them.
In an interview with AFP during a tour of NRC projects across Afghanistan, Egeland said foreign governments are right to demand education for Afghan girls and the right to work for women.
“But it is hypocrisy when one does that from abroad in a seminar in some capital in Europe and cut aid for food to Afghan girls and even for primary education for Afghan girls,” he said.
“The funding cuts are disastrous for the girls and the women of Afghanistan,” he said. “Those who believe that it is a good thing punishing the Taliban by taking away aid from the Afghan people, as some seem to believe, haven’t understood anything of the realities here.”
The NRC employs around 400 people in Afghanistan, including women, and delivers food aid, education, shelter and protection for vulnerable communities. Egeland said the organization had already been forced to lay off female aid workers and female teachers at the primary school level for girls because of a lack of funds.
An Afghan woman working for an international humanitarian group told AFP that successive annual cuts left her feeling “hopeless.” “These organizations are one of the last opportunities for us to work,” she said, requesting anonymity for security reasons.
Egeland also called on the Taliban to reverse the ban on education for girls beyond primary school. Afghanistan is the only country in the world where girls’ secondary education is prohibited.
“My message to Taliban authorities… is by not giving education to girls beyond primary school you will have a catastrophe on your hand,” he said. “There will be no skilled Afghan female teachers, nurses, doctors, midwives in the future.” Education is “a basic universal right,” he added. “We need it now and we should have it now.”
International aid to Afghanistan has fallen sharply since the Taliban returned to power in 2021. The United Nations’ $1.7 billion humanitarian appeal for the country in 2026 was only 30% funded as of late August. Most donor governments have conditioned further assistance on the Taliban respecting human rights, particularly those of women and girls.
The funding shortfalls have already produced concrete effects on the ground. Some 175 centers offering services related to combatting gender-based violence closed in the first six months of this year due to lack of money, affecting 1 million people, according to the UN.
The humanitarian crisis has been further aggravated by natural disasters and the forced return of millions of Afghans from Iran and Pakistan since 2023. Nearly 22 million people — almost half the population — are estimated to need humanitarian assistance this year, the UN said. Women and children remain among the most vulnerable groups.
Aid agencies continue to urge sustained international funding, warning that current shortages are already limiting the delivery of essential food, shelter and healthcare to millions of Afghans.
