ISLAMABAD (Staff Reporter)
Afghan girls continue to be deprived of their fundamental right to education under the Taliban regime, with schools for girls remaining closed for 1,500 days since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 2021. According to a report by the Afghan magazine Amo, the prolonged ban on female education has left millions of girls suffering from psychological distress and despair.
The report states that since the Taliban’s takeover, more than 2.2 million Afghan girls have been denied access to schooling. Experts warn that if the restrictions remain in place, by 2030 nearly 4 million Afghan girls could be excluded from secondary and higher education altogether — a development described as catastrophic for the nation’s future.
An Afghan student quoted in the report said she once believed schools would reopen within a few weeks, but “that day never came.” Education experts argue that the closure of schools constitutes a direct violation of women’s and girls’ basic human rights, amounting to the deliberate erasure of half of the country’s population from public life.
The Amo report adds that similar heartbreaking stories are being told across all 34 provinces of Afghanistan, where young girls are trapped in a cycle of hopelessness due to the Taliban’s continued ban on education.
Observers and human rights groups have accused the Taliban regime of committing severe violations of human rights, including the systematic suppression of women and girls. The international community has been urged to take strong notice of the Taliban’s inhumane policies and to intensify diplomatic pressure to restore Afghan women’s right to education and equal opportunity.