Denying Girls’ Education Is Intolerable and Heartbreaking, Says NRC Chief

Abbas Stanekzai stated that the prohibition on women’s education is solely the personal view of Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s supreme leader.

Speaking at a graduation ceremony for religious school students in Khost Province on Saturday, Stanekzai said the Taliban’s actions are contrary to Islamic law and have deprived Afghanistan’s 20 million women of their fundamental rights.

Since taking control of Afghanistan, the Taliban has closed schools to girls beyond the sixth grade, barred women from universities, and imposed severe restrictions on their participation in public life. Women are prohibited from working in government positions, banned from non-governmental organisations, and prevented from accessing recreational facilities, including parks and sports activities. The group has also declared women’s voices as inappropriate to be heard publicly.

Stanekzai criticised these measures as un-Islamic and suggested that they reflect the personal inclinations of the Taliban leader rather than any religious doctrine. He appealed to the Taliban leadership to reopen schools and universities to girls, emphasising that no valid reason or excuse justifies these restrictions.

This is not the first instance where Stanekzai has spoken out against the Taliban’s policies towards women. He has previously criticised the ban on girls’ education and called for greater respect for women’s rights.

During his speech, Stanekzai underscored the importance of education in Islamic history, asserting: “Out of Afghanistan’s 40 million population, we are committing injustice against 20 million women. How will we answer for this on the Day of Judgement?”

He also highlighted the harsh conditions women face under Taliban rule, noting that they are often denied their rightful inheritance, forced into traditional compensatory marriages, and excluded from places of worship and learning. He questioned whether these actions align with Islamic principles.

The Taliban deputy foreign minister acknowledged that international criticism of the Taliban is largely driven by the group’s treatment of women. “The entire world confronts us over this issue. They criticise us for it. We have taken a path that is shaped by our own personal tendencies, not by Islamic law,” Stanekzai said.

His remarks come in the face of repeated instructions from Hibatullah Akhundzada, who has urged Taliban officials to refrain from publicly criticising the group’s policies. Instead, he has directed them to convey their opinions privately.

Over the past three years, numerous Islamic leaders and scholars around the world have challenged the Taliban’s stance on women, arguing that it violates the principles of Islamic teachings.

Austin, who is now retired, said that efforts to improve the situation of Afghan women should continue. Austin, 71, America's first black secretary of defence, announced the end of his tenure at the Department of Defence on Friday.

He served the US military for 41 years and is a four-star general and a Pentagon leader who has had combat experience.

Austin retired from the military in 2016, but returned to the Pentagon in 2021 by President Joe Biden and was appointed as the first black US secretary of defence.

Austin's tenure coincided with three major military crises, including the war in Ukraine, the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, and the war in the Middle East.

"Over the past four years, we've stood up to our competitors, weakened our enemies, strengthened our friends, and invested in the future," Austin said at a ceremony marking the end of his tenure at Myer-Henderson Air Force Base.

However, his tenure coincided with the disastrous withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and the rise of the Taliban to power, which critics say is a historic defeat for the United States.

According to the Associated Press, the shocking fall of the Afghan government to the Taliban has affected Austin's tenure forever.

The withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan has still created a deep sense of betrayal among some veterans of the loss of Afghanistan, and is one of the issues that President-elect Donald Trump's team has repeatedly criticised.

Biden's decision to continue withdrawing troops from Afghanistan led to two weeks of turmoil in August 2021, when the Air Force evacuated more than 124,000 people from Afghanistan within 17 days.

After the Taliban's return to power, all the hard-won gains for women and democracy were wiped out.

"There were a lot of predictions that if we got out of Afghanistan, we would be attacked every day," Austin said. This has not happened."

"However, some terrible things have happened with women's rights. We must continue to try to improve these issues," he added.

The Biden administration had not yet recovered from the shock of withdrawing from Afghanistan when Russian President Vladimir Putin began amassing hundreds of thousands of troops to invade Ukraine.

In response to the invasion, Austin formed the Ukraine Defence Contact Group, a coalition of more than 50 countries that have sent more than $126 billion in weapons and training to Kyiv over the past three years.

Then, the Hamas-Israel war began on October 7, 2023, and since then, the United States has helped continue this war by providing strategic and military support to Israel. Israel, an ally of the United States, has been accused of genocide in Gaza in this war.

Austin sent two aircraft carriers to the region, and since then, the conflict has spilled over into the Red Sea, disrupting trade and plunging the US Navy into the fiercest naval battle since World War II.

In his closing remarks on Friday, Austin praised his country's "achievements" in these crises.

"We have united the free world to help Ukraine fight for its freedom against the aggression of the Putin empire," he said.

“We have led the NATO alliance, which is stronger, bigger and more united than ever. We have prevented a full-scale war in the Middle East, weakened Iran's proxies across the region, and worked tirelessly to rescue Palestinian civilians in Gaza," he added.

Siraj said that the son of former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was likely to be in Kandahar or Panjshir.

In an interview with a number of reporters, Siraj said that at the level of the Taliban leadership, ethnic and religious differences have increased more than ever, but the al-Qaeda network has played a prominent role in managing this situation.

Siraj also said that there are massive differences over power-sharing among Taliban leaders.

According to Zia Siraj, the message of the al-Qaeda network to the Taliban is that now is a good opportunity to expand their activities and they should use it properly to achieve their goals.

He stated that al-Qaeda currently sees Afghanistan as its centre of command and administration and does not want to lose this strategic position.

The former Afghan security official added that the West and the United States are now aware of the activities of the al-Qaeda network in Afghanistan and have sufficient evidence in this regard, but as long as these activities do not pose a direct threat to them, they prefer to manage them remotely.

Previously, there were concerns that the Taliban had provided sanctuary to members and senior leaders of the al-Qaeda network in Afghanistan.

These concerns made headlines when Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of the al-Qaeda network, was killed in a US airstrike in Kabul.

The US State Department released its annual report on terrorism on December 14 this year, announcing that the Taliban continue to host and shelter al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.

In September, the UN Security Council also reported on the visits of some al-Qaeda commanders to Afghanistan. The report said that al-Qaeda has continued to secretly organise attacks and train forces in Afghanistan.

The first round of Taliban rule led by Mullah Omar in the 1990s was also overthrown by the US-led coalition with the cooperation of the Northern Alliance forces due to its support for Osama bin Laden and the Al-Qaeda network.

The EU said that hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees, returnees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) will benefit from basic protection services, livelihood opportunities and other basic services.

The European Union in Afghanistan, published on Saturday, January 18, said that the EU has signed a new agreement with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The agreement aims to support displaced Afghans and their host communities in Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and Central Asian countries.

The European Union in Afghanistan has said that the support programme will start in January 2025 and will continue until December 2027.

The European Union in Afghanistan says that Afghans make up one of the world's largest refugee populations, with about 2.2 million of them in Iran and Pakistan alone.

It is said that about 3.2 million people have been displaced inside Afghanistan.

"Although active conflict is no longer the main cause of displacement, Afghanistan faces a humanitarian crisis with severe protection issues, including gender-based violence, child labour, and restrictions on freedom of movement and other basic rights for women and girls," the statement said.

The spokesperson of the ministry also announced India's willingness to expand trade, improve the health sector and support sports in Afghanistan.

India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson announced on Friday, January 17, that India has agreed to expand trade with Afghanistan through the Chabahar port.

Referring to Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri's recent meeting with Taliban’s Acting Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, Jaiswal noted that this was the "highest level of engagement" between the two nations.

"We have made it clear that we want to take further steps to provide humanitarian assistance and engage with the government of the Afghan people in the field of development cooperation," he said, referring to "the people of Afghanistan" in his speech, without referring to terms such as "Islamic Emirate" or "Taliban".

"We have a special mission in Kabul. We want to continue the work that we have there (Afghanistan) in order to strengthen the long-term relationship with the Afghan people," he added.

The spokesperson of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs emphasised that his country is trying to strengthen its long-standing relations with the people of Afghanistan. Jaiswal also announced the expansion of India's relations with Afghanistan in the field of sports, especially cricket.

India has so far provided numerous humanitarian aids to Afghanistan, including the delivery of wheat, medicine, and vaccines, and according to the country's Ministry of External Affairs, it intends to continue this support.

Also, expanding trade and development cooperation through Chabahar port is part of the country's plans to strengthen relations with Afghanistan.