Kabul, Dec 8 (EFE).- The Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister of the Taliban on Friday openly criticized his own government for maintaining a ban on girls’ education in Afghanistan, a restriction that has been in place since the Islamist militants seized power over two years ago.
The unusual act of public criticism marks a rare split within the fundamentalist regime, which has long presented itself as a unified movement.
“Education is everyone’s right. This is the natural right that God and the Prophet (Mohammad) have given to them (society). How can anyone take this right from them?” Shir Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai said.
“If someone denies this right, it is a blatant violation and oppression against Afghans and the people of this country,” Stanekzai said during a school graduation ceremony in capital Kabul, local media reported on Friday.
Afghanistan currently stands as the only country in the world that prohibits women from pursuing higher education and girls from attending school beyond the sixth grade.
Stanekzai pointed out that the ban on education is the main cause for the growing alienation of society from the hardline regime, which seized power following the defeat of the Western-backed government and the withdrawal of foreign forces in August 2021.
“Try to reopen the doors of education for everyone,” Stanekzai urged officials.
“Today, our only problem with our nation, neighbors, and the world countries is due to this issue (of education). If today the nation is distancing itself from us, expressing anger towards us, or has a complaint against us, it is because of the education issue,” he insisted.
Stanekzai is the first senior official to openly criticize the policies of the de facto government, which has struggled to gain international recognition due to widespread human rights violations, particularly against women.
Stanekzai, known for his higher education and as a relatively open-minded figure within the Taliban, had led the negotiating team that reached an agreement with the United States on the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan in 2020.
During those talks, he had pledged that under an “Islamic system” women would have all their rights ensured, including access to education and work.
Despite promises of change, the Taliban, over the last two years, have reinstated the oppressive norms of their previous regime (1996-2001), based on a rigid interpretation of Islamic law that deprives women of fundamental rights, including access to education and work. EFE
afg-igr/bks-ks
