UFC superstar Conor McGregor has launched an attack on rescue operations in Afghanistan, condemning what he calls the deplorable treatment of women earthquake victims who were left to die because male rescue workers refused to make physical contact with them.
McGregor’s fury was sparked by reports that emerged following the devastating magnitude 6 earthquake that struck eastern Afghanistan on August 31st, killing over 2,200 people and injuring thousands more. Witnesses described horrific scenes where women trapped under rubble were abandoned by all-male rescue teams who prioritized saving men and children while leaving females to perish.
McGregor took to social media to express his outrage, connecting the tragedy to Ireland’s substantial financial aid to Afghanistan. “Ireland’s government has donated upwards of €5million Irish taxpayer money to Afghanistan this year alone. With a €4m guarantee ON MOTHER’S DAY, OF ALL DAYS! DEPLORABLE!” he wrote.
The earthquake response has highlighted the extreme gender segregation enforced by the Taliban government, where cultural and religious norms prohibit physical contact between unrelated men and women, even during life-or-death emergencies. This policy proved fatal for numerous female victims who could have been saved with immediate medical attention.
Tahzeebullah Muhazeb, a volunteer who witnessed the rescue efforts in Kunar Province, provided harrowing testimony about the discrimination. “It felt like women were invisible,” the 33-year-old volunteer said, describing how “members of the all-male medical team there were hesitant to pull women out from under the rubble of collapsed buildings.”
The systematic neglect was particularly evident in the village of Andarluckak, where 19-year-old survivor Bibi Aysha watched in horror as rescue workers arrived more than 36 hours after the earthquake. “They gathered us in one corner and forgot about us,” she recounted, explaining how bleeding women and girls were pushed aside while men and children received immediate treatment.
The rescue protocols were so rigid that when no male relatives were present, workers would drag dead women out by their clothes to avoid skin contact. Trapped and injured women were left under stones, waiting desperately for women from other villages to reach the site and dig them out.
The earthquake aftermath has exposed the devastating consequences of Taliban policies that have created what aid organizations describe as some of the world’s most severe restrictions on women. Girls are banned from attending school beyond sixth grade, women cannot travel far without male companions, and they are prohibited from most employment, including crucial roles in healthcare and humanitarian work.
This systematic exclusion has created a critical shortage of female medical professionals precisely when they are needed most. Last year’s Taliban ban on women’s enrollment in medical education has further exacerbated the crisis, leaving earthquake-affected areas with virtually no female healthcare workers.
The discrimination extended even to international aid efforts, where soldiers prevented journalists from questioning or photographing the few female humanitarian workers who eventually reached the affected areas. A New York Times journalist visiting the region found no women among medical, rescue, or aid teams, and district hospitals operated without any female staff members.
For survivors like Bibi Aysha, who spent three nights in the open with her young son while unable to reach shelter, the earthquake revealed a harsh truth about life under Taliban rule. “After that night, I understood — being a woman here means we are always the last to be seen,” she said.
