If the Taliban don’t make exceptions to their edict “this would be catastrophic,” Martin Griffiths said at a news conference.
He said a delegation including international aid groups made the case that Afghan women are critical to humanitarian operations during meetings last week with nine Taliban officials, including Afghanistan’s foreign affairs and economy ministers.
“We were asked to be patient,” Griffiths said. “We were told that guidelines are being developed by the Taliban authorities which would provide, allegedly, the functioning of women in humanitarian operations.”