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Authorities in eastern Afghanistan have reopened some girls’ high schools, even though they have not been formally approved.
“The school opened a few days ago. The rules regarding Islam, culture and customs are being followed. The school principal asked the students to return to school. The girls’ high school is open,” the state said. The Bureau of Cultural Information told Reuters.
The Taliban took control of Afghanistan as the US withdrew its troops completely in August 2021. The group pledged to protect women’s rights “within the limits of Islam.” The international community quickly realized that the list remained very short.
The UN Security Council has called on the Taliban to “quickly reverse” its policies and practices against Afghan women and girls who are barred from secondary education. The Guardian writes that it is far from an outright ban on women’s higher education.
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Taliban leaders have hinted that schools could reopen in March 2022, but have instead postponed that decision, saying, “We are not saying schools will be closed permanently.” Added.
The decision to open a school in Paktia was made without official approval. A spokesman told Reuters there was no prior notification to the state’s education department and no response from the Ministry of National Education on the matter.
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Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen told Fox News Digital last year that “there is nothing wrong with women’s rights” after the Taliban takeover. , he argued that Afghanistan had a “different society” that was “not aligned with that of Europe.”
Pushing an optimistic view over critics’ accusations, Shaheen argued that the Taliban had worked to integrate women into government and power roles and had not restricted their access to education at all. The group claimed to have placed women in ministries such as education, higher education, public health, and interiors.
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Piers Morgan raised the issue in an interview with Shaheen, noting that the spokesman’s own daughters were attending school, but Shaheen claimed it was because he was “observing the hijab.” He recently told NPR that the issue of women in school is focused on “school uniforms.”
“We never said we were against education. [of women]'” Shaheen claimed in a recent Fox News Digital interview. Secondly, the situation is different from what our opponents pictured.”
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Shaheen ignored reports from NGOs and the United Nations on the situation of women and girls and tried to shift the blame to media reports.
“Currently, 450,000 students in private and public universities are all studying for Afghanistan, and millions of girls are in primary and secondary school,” he added. “It’s not like it’s presented by some media outlets.”