Karen Decker, the Chargé d’Affaires of the US Mission to Afghanistan, expressed her outrage on the system’s neglect and failure to support disabled Afghan women.
According to a tweet on Monday, December 5, Decker stated that she had met in a virtual meeting with a number of disabled Afghan women in Kabul, and said that they face “immense challenges.”
“It infuriates me they are ignored by a system that should prioritize them for specialized assistance,” Karen Decker wrote on her Twitter handle.
The International Day of Disabled Persons is marked on December 3rd, and Decker, with some delay, tweeted in reference to the Afghan women with disabilities that “They are beautiful, strong human beings.”
“I am proud to call myself their sister,” Karen Decker wrote, expressing her support for the Afghan women who suffer from permanent disabilities.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the number of disabled people is rising globally. While having the most disabled people, developing countries have the lowest levels of care for those with disabilities.
A report by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) states that 13% of the Afghan population is disabled while it also estimated 1.3 billion people worldwide are disabled.—KP
