Taliban renege on promise to provide Afghan girls with higher education

Afghanistan's Taliban rulers made a surprise decision on Wednesday not to reopen girls' schools...
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Afghanistan's Taliban rulers made a surprise decision on Wednesday not to reopen girls' schools above sixth grade, breaking a promise and choosing to appease their hard-line base at the cost of further alienating the international community.

The unexpected decision, confirmed by Taliban officials, is bound to undermine the Taliban's efforts to gain recognition from potential international donors as it grapples with a deepening humanitarian crisis.

The international community has called on Taliban leaders to reopen schools and empower women to use public spaces.

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Afghan girls above sixth grade are unable to return to the classroom. (Associated Press)

The shift was so sudden that the education ministry was caught off guard when school started on Wednesday, as were schools in parts of the Afghan capital Kabul and elsewhere in the country.

Some senior girls go back to school only to be told to go home.

Aid groups said the move added uncertainty to Afghanistan's future, as the Taliban leadership appeared to struggle to be on the same side during the transition from fighting to power.

It was also the leadership meeting in Kandahar amid reports of a possible cabinet reshuffle.

U.S. Special Representative Thomas West tweeted that he was "shocked and deeply disappointed" by the decision, calling it "a betrayal of our public obligations to the Afghan people and the international community."

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He said the Taliban had made it clear that all Afghans have the right to education, adding: "For the future of the country and its relationship with the international community, I urge the Taliban to honour its obligations to the people."

The Norwegian Refugee Council, which spends about $20 million a year supporting primary education in Afghanistan, is still awaiting official word from the Taliban on the abolition of girls' education beyond sixth grade.

The NRC also provides emergency shelter, food and legal advice.

Berenice Van Dan Driessche, the council's advocacy manager, said her representatives had not been formally notified of the change as of Wednesday evening, and that girls in the 11 provinces where they worked had gone to school but had been sent home.

She said committee staff in the provinces reported "a lot of disappointment and a lot of uncertainty" about the future.