Mr. Dominic Crowley:

Again, these are very good and important questions. We have worked in Afghanistan for about 20 years and primarily in the north east. We have gone through challenging times such as the Taliban coming to power, going out of power and coming back into power. The restrictions on women talking in public were a surprise. The prohibition of women being in the workplace was a more worrying issue for us. Over a period of several months, we negotiated at a local level and got agreement that we could establish offices that only women were allowed to work in. Previously men and women worked in the same buildings and that is no longer possible, but at least we have women-only offices. Women are allowed to come to work and engage with women in communities. The context is very difficult but there is some light.

What is worrying is that during the pattern of cuts that were made, Afghanistan was one of the countries the US completely cut funding from. In the last week or so, Sweden has now done the same. They said they do not see any opportunities for making progress in relation to Afghanistan. My concern would be that more European member states would follow that approach and cut aid completely. We must find ways to continue to programme in the most difficult contexts with the most vulnerable people.