A new report by the International Crisis Group has warned against international donors cutting aid to Afghanistan in the wake of authorities’ curbs on women’s education and ability to work at NGOs, instead arguing for Western countries to find a “liminal space between pariah and legitimate status” to respond to the ongoing humanitarian crisis.

The United Nations, which has already had to roll back of some aid operations in the wake of the ban on NGO workers, has appealed for $4.6 billion to aid Afghanistan. The UN has warned that 28 million people are in need of humanitarian aid, accounting for two-thirds of the country’s population.

But Crisis Group warned that “Western governments seemed poised to fall significantly short” of that appeal.

The report authors added that options discussed in the wake of the December edict have included “deepening sanctions, cutting aid or levying other forms of punishment in response.”

They noted that the G7 grouping of the world’s most wealthy countries had said there would be “consequences for how our countries engage” with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) in the wake of the December edicts. The grouping had provided $3 billion in humanitarian funding for Afghanistan in 2022, the report noted.

The report’s authors argued any approach that included short-term cuts to aid in the hopes of undermining the IEA’s authority would further harm those targeted by the IEA’s recent moves.

“Testing such assumptions would involve a high-stakes gamble with potentially millions of human lives. Win or lose, the costs of taking the gamble would be paid in large part by Afghan women, as the burdens of the crisis fall disproportionately on them,” the report said.