Taliban women staff ban 'gravely' curbs NGO aid: France

France on Monday denounced the Taliban for ordering all NGOs in Afghanistan to stop employing women, calling the ban the latest intolerable attack on women that risked aid deliveries.

"This latest hounding (of women) is intolerable," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Paris "condemns in the strongest terms" the ban that "will gravely hinder the delivery of humanitarian aid, to the detriment of the Afghan population... while the country is in the midst of a serious economic and humanitarian crisis," it said.

Several foreign aid groups announced on Sunday that they were suspending their operations in conflict-torn Afghanistan after the Taliban order.

The ban is the latest blow against women's rights in Afghanistan since the Taliban reclaimed power last year.

Less than a week ago, the hardline Islamists also barred women from attending universities, prompting global outrage and protests in some Afghan cities.