KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The UN mission in Afghanistan has warned that the Taliban’s ongoing ban on girls’ education is worsening the country’s multiple crises and contributing to its international isolation.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said the restriction continues to intensify Afghanistan’s human rights, humanitarian, and economic crises.
Roza Otunbayeva, head of UNAMA and the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, described the absence of girls in classrooms as “glaring and damaging,” adding that the policy is harming not only the futures of Afghan girls but also the country’s prospects for peace and prosperity.
“The new school year has started in Afghanistan, but yet again with a glaring and damaging absence of girls from the classrooms,” she said. “This is not only harming their future prospects, but the peace and prosperity of all Afghans.”
Otunbayeva said she was deeply disappointed that the Taliban continue to ignore calls from communities across the country to lift the ban, noting that Afghans have already endured decades of conflict and are now facing one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
“This ban is also one of the main reasons Afghanistan continues to be isolated from the international community, which is also holding back recovery,” she added, urging donors to maintain support for the Afghan people, particularly in the education sector.
The statement comes as the country marks three years since the Taliban barred girls from attending secondary school. The move has left more than 2.2 million girls out of school, according to UN estimates.
Afghanistan remains the only country in the world where girls are banned from secondary education. The Taliban have also barred women from attending universities and restricted them from most jobs, including in health care and humanitarian aid.
Rights groups, UN experts, and activists widely agree that the Taliban’s systemic oppression of women and girls amounts to gender apartheid—an institutionalized policy aimed at subjugating them solely based on their gender.
International efforts, including pressure from Muslim countries and organizations, have so far failed to convince the Taliban to reverse their decisions, leaving millions of women and girls uncertain about their future.
