Taliban insists ban on women from Afghan schools and universities is ‘not permanent’ and their education is being ‘postponed’
- A spokesman says the Islamist group is not against ‘women’s education per se’ but schooling must be compliant with our ‘values and rules’
- Since coming to power girls have been banned from secondary school, with a ban on women attending university following last month
The Taliban has said the ban on Afghan women and girls from attending schools and universities is “not permanent”, saying their education is being “postponed”.
“I would like to make it clear that it is not a permanent ban on women’s education, it has been postponed until a conducive environment is created for their education,” Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said.
Girls have been excluded from secondary schools since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.
“The authorities are working in full swing to achieve that as soon as possible,” Shaheen said, adding that Taliban leaders were not “against women’s education per se” but they wanted women to “receive education in an environment compliant with our values and rules”.
He did not offer a timeline for their return to education.
The current rules mean Afghan girls may not receive education beyond grade 6 – the final year of junior school.
On December 22, NPR reported that Taliban officials had also removed women from teaching positions at several schools.
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Nishank Motwani, Mason Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, said the Taliban did not recognise the concept of “human rights or women’s rights” and regarded these rights as “fundamentally alien” to their beliefs.
The regime’s leaders “are undertaking a thorough purification of any foreign or domestic influence that clashes with their narrow ideological mindset”, Motwani said.
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The agreement, signed in the Qatari capital in February 2020, paved the way for the withdrawal of US troops in Afghanistan, contingent on the Taliban’s promise to prevent terrorist groups from operating in the country.
