In his message for the upcoming Nawroz, the Persian New Year, former President Hamid Karzai has wished that the Taliban will open schools and universities for women and girls and let them work outdoor with the beginning of the new year.
“I wish the caretaker Islamic government would open schools and universities for women and girls and provide circumstances for women to return to their work once again,” Karzai said in a statement posted on Monday on his social media accounts, referring to the Taliban as the “caretaker Islamic government.”
Moreover, he reiterated on an “immediate start” of national discourse for promoting national unity and a sustainable peace in the country.
The 1402 New Year will start in Hejri solar calendar on Tuesday with Nawroz festivities being celebrated in many countries, including Afghanistan. It was officially celebrated by the previous government as a traditional ceremony but the Taliban has ruled out its official celebrations.
Women and girls are now effectively denied their basic rights to education and work in all over Afghanistan under the Taliban which recaptured the country in August 2021.
In March 2022, the group barred girls from secondary education. In December of the same year, it banned tertiary education for women and girls, and also prohibited women from working for NGOs.
With the new academic year set to start in two days across Afghanistan, there is no development in reversing the Taliban’s bans on education for women and girls.
Earlier this month universities in the capital Kabul and some other provinces were only re-opened to male students which once again provoked strong reactions by girl students and women’s rights activist.
