Rina Amiri, US Special Representative for Women's Affairs, has met with representatives of Uzbekistan, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, Tunisia, and Indonesia and discussed situation of Afghan women. Amiri added that the stakeholders consider Afghan girls’ education a necessity.
According to Amiri, she has held discussions with members of the House of Representatives and ambassadors of these countries, as well as with an official of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
Despite repeated requests from the international community, including several Islamic countries and human rights organisations, the Taliban have refused to reopen girls' schools.
With the Taliban assuming control of Afghanistan, schools for girls above the sixth grade were closed across the country, and no female student graduated from Afghanistan’s schools in the last year. In Afghanistan, it has been more than a year since secondary and high schools have been closed to Afghan girls. Afghan women protesters have often gathered in front of several schools and protested against the closures of secondary and high schools for girls. The women protesters held placards with the slogan “education without fear”.
In the fall of last year, authorities allowed Afghan girls to enroll in primary schools and universities and promised to resume secondary education at the start of the new school year March 23. But that day, as high school girls streamed into classrooms, officials reversed course and postponed classes indefinitely until “a comprehensive plan has been prepared according to sharia and Afghan culture.”
Last month, they allowed female students who were in 12th grade before the republic’s collapse to take the university placement exam known as the Kankor — but blocked off majors they deemed inappropriate for young women to pursue, including economics, engineering, journalism and veterinary medicine.
