In a new challenge to the authority and decisions of Taliban leader Hebatullah Akhundzade, Afghan government interior minister Sirajuddin Haqqani said the suspension of girls over sixth grade in the country is a temporary solution, not a permanent one.
He also emphasized during his Friday meeting with a delegation of scholars that the movement believes that the Islamic religion obliges the education of both men and women.
committed to the rights
He also stressed that the Taliban is committed to ensuring all the legitimate rights of the Afghan people, including the right to education, according to an Al-Arabiya correspondent.
Informed sources have previously told Al-Arabiya/Al-Hadas that the extremist movement has signs of defection on the issue.
She also explained at the time that some ministers in the Taliban government sent a letter to the leader of the movement asking him to reconsider the ban on girls’ education and women’s work, but he replied to them with one sentence: “If you can prove that Islam allows girls over 12 years old to go out of at home, I will let the girls get an education and work.”
Haqqani threats
Meanwhile, Haqqani then emphasized, according to the same sources, that unless a decision is made on the issue of the return of education at the beginning of the next academic year in March of this year, as well as an end to Hebatullah’s interference in appointments and dismissals in ministerial and military positions, in addition to forming a Shura Council to govern, he would not hesitate to publicly criticize the leader of the movement and those close to him in Kandahar.
Notably, despite a promise by the Taliban to be more flexible on some issues, including women’s education, upon their return to power in August 2021, they soon returned to the extremism that characterized their rule from 1996 to 2001.
He gradually excluded women from public life and removed them from work after they were given low wages to encourage them to stay at home. And last November, they were banned from parks, gardens, gyms and public swimming pools.
They were also forbidden to roam the streets without being accompanied by a male relative or mahram on pain of persecution.
