The Islamic Emirate’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Thursday in response to the UN Women report released this week that it is untrue and is based on “propaganda”.

“This survey is not accurate. Unfortunately, like opinions, it is not always prepared based on information from inside Afghanistan but on propaganda,” said Mujahid.

“We have many women in Afghanistan who are engaged in business and work and have progressed in their lives. We still have different fields where women are active in the framework of government,” he added.

According to the report, the Islamic Emirate’s implementation of a series of decrees, directives and practices over the past three years has been “aimed at systematically removing women from Afghan public life and decision-making positions – across almost all sectors.

“This stream of edicts has also included a ban on girls and young
women pursuing secondary and university-level education in Afghanistan,” the report read.

The UN also stated that the near “wholesale exclusion of women and girls from broader society, coupled with the overlapping economic and humanitarian crises” has caused a marked deterioration in the living conditions for the overwhelming majority of Afghans.

UN Women also said this “is resulting in shifts in community attitudes towards gender norms and a mental health crisis within families across Afghanistan.”