KABUL (SW) – Analysts belive the Islamic Emirate authorities have linked the reopening of girls’ schools with the official recognition of their government in Afghanistan by the international community.
A number of women’s rights activists, in response to the claim of reopening the school to female students above the sixth grade by Amir Khan Muttaqi, Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, say that the officials of the Islamic Emirate, with these statements in regional meetings, are seeking to gain international legitimacy.
Sima Sadat, a women’s rights activist, told Salam Watandar that the Islamic Emirate has made the education of women and girls a tool for its recognition. “These [officials of the Islamic Emirate] do not aim to see whether Afghan girls can go to school or not. They only use this issue as a means to achieve their goal.”
Hasna Raofi, another women’s rights activist, despairing of the possibility of girls returning to schools and universities, said that the Islamic Emirate does not have a plan for girls’ education and schools will not be opened for girls. “If there is no specific law and if they want the keep delaying it, there will certainly be various excuses and that the school gates will not be opened, other than making an excuse for people to waste their time and not be discouraged by the current government.”
Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate, said on Monday at the Center for Strategic Studies in Pakistan that the Islamic Emirate does not consider the education of girls as ‘haram’ and they are only prevented from going to school until the age of 18.
After returning to power in the summer of 2021, the Islamic Emirate prohibited female students above the sixth grade from continuing their education, and from that time until now, girls can only continue their education until the end of the sixth grade.
Even though in the last two years, students and a number of women’s rights activists, by launching protest rallies and marches, have demanded the reopening of schools to female students above the sixth grade, but until now, the Islamic Emirate has not accepted this request.
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