A United Nations representative in Afghanistan has called on the international community to not lose sight of Afghan women and girls, who urgently need support.

Stephen Rodriques spoke to NHK on Tuesday in Tokyo. He serves as the resident representative for the UN development program in Afghanistan.

In August this year, the Taliban interim government imposed a law requiring women to cover their entire bodies and faces in public spaces. Rodriques expressed concern that the oppression will continue to worsen.

He said, "This is why folks refer to it as erasing the face and the voice of women from society, because it tightens the restrictions on women. It indicates that their voices shouldn't be heard in public."

He went on to say that while the international community has been focusing on Ukraine and the Middle East, assistance to Afghanistan has dropped since 2021. He said funding for places for women to work, and to support their lives, has fallen to less than half the amount needed this year.

Rodriques said, "We understand the importance of Gaza, of Ukraine, of Lebanon and so on. But we also want to caution that if we lose sight of what's happening in Afghanistan, and it remains a fragile state and it deteriorates, if it becomes unstable, then in five years' time, we're going to be back to where we started."