Human Rights Rapporteur: Taliban unified but divided on girls’ education

The UN’s Special Human Rights Rapporteur for Afghanistan, speaking at the Doha Forum on Sunday, highlighted the Taliban administration as a unified vision but its division on women’s education.

Richard Bennett revealed that a former Minister of Higher Education was dismissed from the Taliban administration for supporting women’s education, though he didn’t disclose the official’s name.

Despite the Taliban’s emphasis on unity, Richard Bennett noted that they lack integrity when it comes to education, leading to conflicting statements.

“The unity of the Taliban is one of their strengths, because they consider unity to be very important. But in the matter of education, I don’t think they have this integrity. We have seen this difference in some statements,” Bennett said.

Discussions were held about girls’ education in separate university classes during a meeting with the former minister of education, but the minister was later removed from his post.

The removal was likely due to Kandahar’s perception that the former minister’s views on education were too open and progressive.

Rina Amiri, the US special representative for Afghanistan’s women’s affairs and human rights, criticized the Taliban’s policies toward women, stating they lacked religious or economic justification.

Amiri pointed out that these restrictions had a detrimental economic impact, causing a loss of over $1 billion in income and harming families.

Contrary to claims of a religious basis, Amiri argued that 57 countries in the Islamic Organization had condemned the ban on women’s education and work, viewing it as a political rather than religious issue.

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