Taliban's Ban On Education for Afghan Women Against Islamic Teachings, Says Iran FM

January 24 is celebrated as World Education Day, and on this occasion, diplomats and officials of international organisations have criticised the closure of schools and universities for Afghan women and girls.

For more than 490 days, the Taliban has prevented the reopening of girls' schools in Afghanistan.

On World Education Day, even Antonio Guterres, the United Nations Secretary General, called on the Taliban to reverse the ban on education for women.

Guterres said that now is the time to end all discriminatory practices that hinder access to education.

Similarly, the Charge d'Affaires of the US Embassy in Afghanistan, said that it is difficult to celebrate World Education Day while Afghan girls are deprived of the right to education.

The power outage in Uzbekistan over the recent weeks had caused Kabul and several provinces in Afghanistan to face electricity blackouts.

According to the Taliban, the technical problems in the production of electricity in Uzbekistan have been resolved and the country has announced its readiness to export 250 megawatts of electricity within the next 24 hours.

Earlier, the foreign minister of the Taliban had asked Uzbekistan not to cut off electricity exports to Afghanistan during difficult circumstances.

Most of Afghanistan's electricity is imported from Uzbekistan, Iran, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan.

The Afghan scholars called for these measures in an open letter to the United Nations Secretary-General.

This letter states that Afghan “women should work and travel freely and girls should continue their studies in school and university”.

They also asked the United Nations to stop all direct and indirect support to the Taliban.

A part of the letter states, "They (Taliban) should be held responsible for their illegal actions and be subjected to more pressure and sanctions within the framework of international human rights laws.”

According to the letter, since taking over Afghanistan in August 2021, the Taliban have issued more than 30 decrees that target all aspects of Afghan women's lives.

The letter also states that the Taliban ignores almost all human rights standards and it is time to step up efforts to ensure accountability of the group for violations of international law.

The letter states that if the international community does not take further punitive measures, the Taliban's "repressive" actions might continue.

The activists also stressed that the world should not bargain with regards to women's rights in Afghanistan in the name of engagement with the Taliban.

The Afghan women said that the situation of women in Afghanistan is deteriorating, and they are deprived of their basic rights.

The participants of the Istanbul gathering expressed their concerns about signs of the international community’s acceptance of the current situation of women in Afghanistan.

The Afghan women activists said that while women inside Afghanistan are deprived of their rights, the international community only emphasises on the Afghan women's right to education, which, according to them, is "dangerous" for the situation of women.

This is the first time that Turkey has allowed Afghan women to hold such a political gathering to protest against the Taliban policies.

This gathering was held on Sunday at the initiative of Rahela Dostum, the daughter of Marshal Abdul Rashid Dostum, the former Vice-President of Afghanistan.

Qalandar Ebad, the Acting Minister of Public Health of the Taliban, said that Afghanistan is closer to eradicating polio than ever before.

Ebad has asked Afghan citizens to cooperate with the officials for the implementation of the vaccination programme.

According to Taliban’s public health figures, in 2022 Afghanistan recorded two positive cases of polio in Kunar and Paktika provinces.

Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only countries that have not been able to eradicate polio cases.