Senior Taliban official urges reversal of education ban on Afghan girls

A senior Taliban official has made a rare public denouncement, calling on the group's leadership to end the ban on education for women and girls in Afghanistan. Sher Abbas Stanikzai, the political deputy foreign minister of Afghanistan, made the remarks during a speech in Khost province in southeastern Afghanistan.

Speaking to an audience at a religious school ceremony, Stanikzai said there was no justification for denying women and girls the right to education, "just as there was no justification in the past, there should be absolutely no justification now." The Taliban government banned women from receiving education after the sixth grade after seizing power in 2021.

Stanikzai asserted that there is no religious basis for the current ban on women's education. “We are committing an injustice against 20 million out of 40 million people, depriving them of all their rights,” Stanikzai said in a video shared on his official social media account. “This is not Islamic law, but our personal choice or nature.”

Stanikzai was formerly the head of the Taliban's negotiating team, which led to the full withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan. This is not the first time he has suggested women and girls should be educated. He made similar remarks as early as September 2022, a year after girls' schools were closed and months before the university ban was imposed. "We are once again calling on the leadership to open the doors to education," he said, marking his first call for a policy change and a direct appeal to Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada.

However, Afghan women’s rights advocates have warned against viewing this as a turning point. Zubayda Akbar, an activist with the women's rights group Femena, said the comments were most likely a strategic move by the Taliban to improve their credibility internationally. “The Taliban deputy’s comments about there being no excuse for the education ban on Afghan women and girls reflects their desperation,” Akbar told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “They see making these statements as a strategic move to repackage themselves as progressive.”

Ibraheem Bahiss, an analyst at the Crisis Group, said Stanikzai has made statements on multiple occasions suggesting education is a right for all Afghan women and girls. "However, the latest statement appears to go a step further as he has publicly called for a change in policy and questioned the legitimacy of the current practices," Bahiss said.

No country recognizes the Taliban as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan, but countries like Russia have been engaging with them. India has also been developing relations with the Afghan authorities. The United Nations has said that recognition of the Taliban government is nearly impossible while bans on women's education and employment remain, and while women cannot appear in public without a male guardian.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai said at a conference hosted by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Muslim World League this month that Islamic leaders should challenge the Taliban on the issue of education for women and girls. Akbar highlighted the broader repression under Taliban rule, including bans on women working, singing, or being heard in public. “Access to education is not meaningful progress if women cannot move freely, speak, or participate in public life,” Akbar said.

She called on the international community to be wary of attempts to use partial reforms to gain legitimacy. “The Taliban negotiator's statement appears to be a calculated effort by them to show an image of reform internally.” Last September, it was reported that 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 not confirmed the medical training ban.