‘Guidance’ ministry replaces ministry for women under Taliban.

Taliban have set up a ‘guidance ministry ‘ in place of Women’s Affairs Ministry for the “propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice”.

In Kabul, a new sign was up outside the Women’s Affairs Ministry, announcing it was now the “Ministry for Preaching and Guidance and the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice”.

The staff of the World Bank’s $100m Women’s Economic Empowerment and Rural Development Project, which was run out of the Women’s Affairs Ministry, were escorted off the grounds on Saturday, said project member Sharif Akhtar, who was among those being removed.

Videos posted to social media showed women workers from the ministry protesting outside after losing their jobs. No official from the Taliban responded to requests for comment.

Mabouba Suraj, who heads the Afghan Women’s Network, said she was astounded by the flurry of orders released by the Taliban-run government restricting women and girls.

Meanwhile, the Taliban-run Ministry of Education asked boys from grades 7 to 12 back to school on Saturday along with their male teachers, but there was no mention of girls in those grades returning to school. Previously, the Taliban’s minister of higher education said girls would be given equal access to education, albeit in gender-segregated settings.

The Taliban is facing major economic and security problems as it attempts to govern, and a growing challenge by ISIL would further stretch its resources.