A senior member of the Taliban, Sher Abbas Stanikzai, has publicly asked the group’s leader to stop the bans on education for Afghan women and girls. He made these comments during a speech on Saturday at a school event in Khost province. Stanikzai said there is no reason to keep girls from going to school. He pointed out that denying education to women and girls is not justified and said that it should not happen.
Currently, girls in Afghanistan are not allowed to go to school after sixth grade, and there are reports that women are also banned from medical training. Women can only receive medical help from female doctors because of the rules. Stanikzai spoke out again, saying, “We are doing an injustice to 20 million people in a country of 40 million,” meaning that many women are being denied their rights. He emphasized that this goes against Islamic law, saying it’s more about personal choices rather than true faith.
This is not the first time Stanikzai has spoken about the importance of education for women and girls, but this time he directly asked the Taliban’s leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, to change their policy.
Ibraheem Bahiss, an analyst, noted that Stanikzai usually speaks about girls’ rights, but his comments now openly challenge the current Taliban policies. Earlier this month, Malala Yousafzai, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, urged Muslim leaders to challenge the Taliban on these issues at a conference.
The United Nations has said that no countries will recognize the Taliban as Afghanistan’s leaders while they keep banning education and jobs for women. Countries like Russia and India are starting to have meetings with the Taliban, even though no country fully accepts them as official rulers.
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