Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), described the denial of girls’ education in Afghanistan as “heartbreaking” and “intolerable” during a visit to a women’s carpet-weaving centre in Herat.
Egeland noted that the girls weaving carpets at the centre have been deprived of their right to education. One child labourer shared her story, saying: “I only finished Year 5, but my dream is still to become a doctor.”
On Saturday, Egeland posted on the social media platform X that he had returned to Afghanistan, where 22 million people are in need of humanitarian aid. Amid this crisis, Pakistan has deported 800,000 Afghan refugees, and Iran is planning to expel an additional two million.
During his visit to Herat, Egeland met women who have returned to Afghanistan without their husbands and now live in poverty and despair. He also visited a women’s entrepreneurship centre in Parwan province. He shared that Parwana, an entrepreneur supported by the NRC in 2021, now employs 20 female tailors, all of whom are the primary breadwinners for their families.
Egeland criticised the slow pace of financial support for humanitarian initiatives aimed at empowering Afghan women.
The Taliban has banned girls from attending school beyond Year 6 and has closed universities to women. The regime has also imposed severe restrictions on Afghan women, including prohibiting them from working, visiting parks, travelling without a male guardian, and working with international organisations.
Several human rights groups and activists have accused the Taliban of implementing a system of “gender apartheid.”
