IAM remains committed to serving the people of Afghanistan.

On Saturday, 24 December, the Ministry of Economy within the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan sent a letter to the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief and Development (ACBAR), ordering all female staff in national and international NGOs to stop working.

Following this announcement, IAM has made the difficult decision to suspend all work, apart from planned relief distributions and emergency healthcare work.

Female staff are essential in providing humanitarian assistance to respect traditional and religious customs and are integral to our organisation at all levels. This exclusion of women will impact communities in emergency food distribution, health services, primary education, livelihood training, protection services, and disability services. IAM cannot effectively work and reach the hundreds of thousands of beneficiaries we work with each year without them.

Under Afghanistan’s NGO code of conduct, NGOs should remain independent and neutral in any conflict. As civil society actors, we reject any discrimination based on faith, age, gender, or minority.

We will continue to work with ACBAR and other NGO partners to advocate for a complete and swift resumption of our work for all staff. IAM remains committed to serving the people of Afghanistan, and we hope and pray that this situation will be resolved quickly.