The Taliban go back and ban high school youth from going back to school

This Wednesday a special day was promised in Afghanistan. Last week, the Taliban government promised that this would be the first day in which young women across the country could, for the first time since the group’s seizure of power in August 2021, access secondary education —In the cities of the country some young women are already studying, but this is not the case in the rural regions Afghans.

It had to be the day, but it wasn’t: this Wednesday morning, to the surprise of the students who were heading to class for the first time in months, the decision was reversed. There will be no education for Afghan girls starting in elementary school. “Women’s Schools they will remain closed until we come up with a plan according to the sharia law and the afghan culture”, the Taliban government said this Wednesday, the same one that a few days ago said that the schools would open.

In fact, the announcement has occurred while classes started early in the morning. Many young women, shown by the local press, could not believe it. “I cried with joy last week when I heard the news that schools would reopen. Today I have wept with sorrow for not being able to enter the school”, a student told Afghan television ‘ToloNews’visibly affected.

“We’re very disappointed. We didn’t expect it to happen. Many of us are crying”, said another companion, next to the first.

international pressure

When the Taliban took Kabul and power in Afghanistan in August last year, one of the first measures they implemented was prohibit women from access to all education that was not primary. Over the weeks, they allowed women to access university and secondary schools, but only in Kabul and the country’s big cities and only if education was segregated.

Thus, with young Afghan girls’ access to school restricted, United Nations and United States turned the issue into a key point for normalize relations with Afghanistan and provide the country with humanitarian aid. To achieve this, since September, the Taliban have been trying to appear more moderate, and have shown signs of being willing to open schools to women as well.

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At the last minute, however, they backed down. “The UN in Afghanistan deplores this Wednesday’s announcement to extend the indefinite ban on women who study beyond primary school to return to school”, said, in a statement, the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).

When they came to power in the late 1990s, the Taliban banned all education and access to work to women. In 2021, they said themselves, they had learned the lesson. At the moment, they still do not show it. “All this shows that the Taliban are not to be trusted and do not keep their promises,” he told television. ‘Al Jazeera’ Afghan exile politics Shukria Barakzay: “They are the same as they were before. They are still against women studying.”