KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The United Kingdom’s Special Envoy for Afghanistan has called on the Taliban to allow women and girls to access education, stressing that educating girls is vital for the country’s future.
Richard Lindsay, the UK’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, made the remarks on Saturday (January 24) in a post on X to mark International Day of Education. He said:” I stand with Afghans who believe girls’ education is essential. The UK calls for the Taliban to allow women and girls to be able to access education – because when girls are educated, all Afghans benefit.”
Since regaining power in August 2021, the Taliban have banned girls above sixth grade from attending school. The group has also closed universities and even medical institutes to women and girls, effectively excluding them from secondary and higher education.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) say that 2.2 million adolescent girls in Afghanistan have been deprived of access to secondary education.
In a joint statement released on Saturday (January 24) to mark the International Day of Education, the two UN agencies said that Afghanistan is currently the only country in the world where access to secondary and higher education is completely banned for women and girls.
