The Taliban’s foreign minister faced questions about banning Afghan girls and women from education and work as he sat for a rare press conference in Delhi on Sunday, attended by female journalists.
Amir Khan Muttaqi, UN-sanctioned leader and senior minister of the de facto Taliban regime in Afghanistan, stated that the education of girls and women was “notharam”, or declared prohibited under the laws governing Islam, and has been postponed until the next order of the country’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada.
Afghanistan is the only country in the world where the government has banned girls and women from enjoying their basic rights, such as being seen in public parks, gyms, mosques, markets and salons.
The Taliban’s restrictions on women and girls and freedom of expression have drawn criticism from human rights groups and foreign governments since the former insurgents retook control of Afghanistan in 2021. Taliban officials have previously stated that they respected women’s rights in accordance with their strict interpretation of Islamic law. But they have also tightened controls on women’s access to public life, preventing them from attending university and high school.
“Currently we have 10 million students attending schools and other educational institutes, of which 2.8 million are women and girls. In religious seminaries, this educational opportunity is available up to the graduation level. There are certain limitations in specific parts, but that does not mean that we are opposed to education,” Muttaqi told a group of more than 50 journalists gathered at the Afghan embassy in the heart of the capital. India.
“We have not religiously declared it ‘haram’, but it has been postponed until the second order,” he said after being questioned about limiting the basic rights of almost half of Afghanistan’s population. He also stated that Afghanistan was witnessing peace and all necessary changes would be brought in over time.
Journalists were not allowed to counter the Taliban minister’s claims.
In the past, videos shared on social media showed female students being chased by Taliban government “vice and virtue” staff outside the gates of a major university as they demanded entry. Afghan women were also flogged by the Taliban for protesting their right to education. Amnesty International said in a report that the lives of Afghan women and girls were being destroyed by a “suffocating” repression by the Taliban since they took power.
The controversial press conference was held just a day after mass outrage over the Taliban’s exclusion of female journalists from an all-male gathering for a press conference in Delhi on Friday.
Women journalists, including this reporter from the independentwho had gathered outside the Afghan embassy in Delhi on Friday, security personnel and Delhi Police officers prevented them from attending the event despite multiple requests.
Muttaqi said on Sunday that the exclusion of women from the press conference was a “technical issue” and that his list of “selected journalists” was drawn up at short notice.
The Taliban’s application of Sharia law in Afghanistan has been the main obstacle to its international recognition. Shortly after taking control of Kabul, they banned girls older than sixth grade from attending schools and implemented another ban on women attending colleges and universities.