Khost
\nThe Taliban\u2019s acting deputy foreign minister called on his senior leadership to open schools for Afghan girls, among the strongest public rebukes of a policy that has contributed to the international isolation of its rulers.
\nSher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, who previously led a team of negotiators at the Taliban\u2019s political office in Doha before US forces withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021, said in a speech at the weekend that restrictions on girls and women\u2019s education was not in line with Islamic Sharia law.
\n\u201cWe request the leaders of the Islamic Emirate to open the doors of education,\u201d he said, according to local broadcaster Tolo, referring to the Taliban\u2019s name for its administration.
\n\u201cIn the time of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him), the doors of knowledge were open to both men and women,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cToday, out of a population of forty million, we are committing injustice against twenty million people,\u201d he added, referring to the female population of Afghanistan.
\nThe comments were among the strongest public criticism in recent years by a Taliban official of the school closures, which Taliban sources and diplomats have previously told Reuters were put in place by the supreme spiritual leader Haibatullah Akhundzada despite some internal disagreement.
\nThe Taliban have said they respect women\u2019s rights in accordance with their interpretation of Islamic law and Afghan culture.
\nThey made a sharp u-turn on promises to open high schools for girls in 2022, and have since said they were working on a plan for the schools to re-open but have not given any timeline.
\nThey closed universities to female students at the end of 2022.
\nThe policies have been widely criticised internationally, including by Islamic scholars, and Western diplomats have said any path towards formal recognition of the Taliban is blocked until there is a change on their policies towards women.
\nA Taliban administration spokesman in the southern city of Kandahar where Haibatullah is based did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Stanekzai\u2019s remarks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Khost The Taliban\u2019s acting deputy foreign minister called on his senior leadership to open schools for Afghan girls, among the strongest public rebukes of a policy that has contributed to the international isolation of its rulers. Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, who previously led a team of negotiators at the Taliban\u2019s political office in Doha before […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":456722,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-456709","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n