Taliban ‘agree to consider allowing women to resume agency work in Kandahar’

Jan Egeland, the secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, meets with the head of Kandahar’s Economy Directorate, Mawlawi Abdul Salam Baryali, in Kandahar (Norwegian Refugee Council/AP)

The Taliban have reportedly agreed to consider letting Afghan women resume work at a major aid organisation in the southern province of Kandahar.

Afghan women were barred from working at nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) last December, allegedly because they were not wearing the hijab – the Islamic headscarf – correctly or observing gender segregation rules.