A senior Taliban figure has urged the group’s leader to scrap education bans on Afghan women and girls, saying there is no excuse for them, in a rare public rebuke of government policy.
Sher Abbas Stanikzai, political deputy at the Foreign Ministry, made the remarks in a speech on Saturday in southeastern Khost province.
He told an audience at a religious school ceremony there was no reason to deny education to women and girls, “just as there was no justification for it in the past and there shouldn’t be one at all.”
The government has barred females from education after sixth grade. Last September, there were reports authorities had also stopped medical training and courses for women.
In Afghanistan, women and girls can only be treated by female doctors and health professionals. Authorities have yet to confirm the medical training ban.
“We call on the leadership again to open the doors of education,” said Stanikzai in a video shared by his official account on the social platform X. “We are committing an injustice against 20 million people out of a population of 40 million, depriving them of all their rights. This is not in Islamic law, but our personal choice or nature.”
Stanikzai was once the head of the Taliban team in talks that led to the complete withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan.
It is not the first time he has said that women and girls deserve to have an education. He made similar remarks in September 2022, a year after schools closed for girls and months and before the introduction of a university ban.
But the latest comments marked his first call for a change in policy and a direct appeal to Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada.
Ibraheem Bahiss, an analyst with Crisis Group’s South Asia program, said Stanikzai had periodically made statements calling girls’ education a right of all Afghan women.
“However, this latest statement seems to go further in the sense that he is publicly calling for a change in policy and questioned the legitimacy of the current approach,” Bahiss said.
In the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, earlier this month, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai urged Muslim leaders to challenge the Taliban on women and girls’ education.
She was speaking at a conference hosted by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Muslim World League.
The U.N. has said that recognition is almost impossible while bans on female education and employment remain in place and women can’t go out in public without a male guardian.
No country recognizes the Taliban as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan, but countries like Russia have been building ties with them.
India has also been developing relations with Afghan authorities.
In Dubai earlier this month, a meeting between India’s top diplomat, Vikram Mistri, and Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi showed their deepening cooperation.
In a recent development, a Taliban deputy has reportedly told the leader of the group that there is no excuse for banning education for Afghan women and girls. This statement comes amidst growing concern and backlash from the international community over the Taliban’s oppressive policies towards women’s rights.
The deputy, whose identity has not been disclosed, is said to have emphasized the importance of education for all Afghan citizens, regardless of gender. The deputy reportedly argued that denying education to women and girls not only goes against basic human rights principles but also undermines the country’s long-term development and stability.
This bold stance from within the Taliban leadership is a rare and hopeful sign that there may be internal dissent and pushback against the group’s extremist policies. It also underscores the growing pressure on the Taliban to reform and respect the rights of all Afghan citizens, especially women and girls.
It remains to be seen how the Taliban leader will respond to this dissenting voice from within his ranks. However, this development serves as a reminder that the fight for women’s rights in Afghanistan is far from over, and that there are individuals within the Taliban who recognize the importance of education for all. Let us hope that this message will lead to positive change for Afghan women and girls.
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Taliban, Afghanistan, education bans, women’s rights, Afghan women, girls education, Taliban leader, Taliban deputy, human rights, gender equality, women empowerment, education rights
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