Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai calls on Taliban to provide education to girls and women

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Louise Thomas

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Former Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai has reiterated his calls to the Taliban to allow girls and women back into education on the country’s 105th anniversary of independence.

“On this proud occasion and for a truly independent and self-sufficient Afghanistan, I once again ask the caretaker government to open the doors of schools as soon as possible,” Mr Karzai said.

The Taliban, who took power in 2021, barred education for girls above sixth grade because they said it didn’t comply with their interpretation of Sharia, or Islamic law. The schools were not shut for boys and men, and the regime has shown no sign of taking the steps needed to reopen classrooms and campuses for girls and women.

Unesco said at least 1.4 million girls have been deliberately denied access to secondary education since the takeover, an increase of 300,000 since its previous count in April 2023, with more girls reaching the age limit of 12 every year.

Shortly after the collapse of the Nato-led government in August 2021, the former Afghan leader said he had invited the Taliban into the city “to protect the population so that the country, the city doesn’t fall into chaos and the unwanted elements who would probably loot the country, loot shops”.

Mr Karzai was Afghanistan’s president for 13 years after the Taliban were first ousted in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. In April 2024, the former president had stressed the value of girls’ education during a discussion with Hassan Kazemi Qomi, Iran’s ambassador and special representative.

On Sunday, in his wishes, Mr Karzai said it was a great honour to have independence and that the freedom of Afghanistan must be protected. The future of the country undoubtedly depends on the education of the young generation, he said, as he asked the group to fulfil that requirement.

Mr Karzai also said education, unity, and national harmony are the strengths that keep Afghanistan strong.

However, since the Taliban took control of Kabul in August 2021, access to primary education has also plummeted with 1.1 million fewer girls and boys attending school, latest Unesco data shows.

Afghanistan had 5.7 million girls and boys in primary school in 2022, compared with 6.8 million in 2019, the Unesco data shows.

The enrollment drop was the result of the Taliban decision to bar female teachers from teaching boys, Unesco said, but could also be explained by a lack of parental incentive to send their children to school in an increasingly tough economic environment.

“If we add the girls who were already out of school before the bans were introduced, there are now almost 2.5 million girls in the country deprived of their right to education, representing 80 per cent of Afghan school-age girls,” Unesco said.

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