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KABUL (AFP): The Taliban will announce a framework that allows girls to attend school in Afghanistan “soon,” a senior United Nations official said, four weeks after Afghan boys have been allowed a secondary education but girls have not.
“The de facto minister of education told us that they are working on a framework, which will allow all girls to go to secondary school,” UNICEF deputy executive director Omar Abdi said at the United Nations in New York.
The Taliban permitted girls to attend primary school from the start, but have maintained that neither the girls nor their female teachers could return to secondary school yet. Taliban officials have said that can happen only once the girls’ security and strict gender segregation can be ensured.
Abdi noted that, as he spoke, “millions of girls of secondary school age are missing out on education for the 27th consecutive day.” He said the UN has urged the Taliban authorities now governing Afghanistan “not to wait” on educating girls.
The UN official further said that he had visited Afghanistan the week before and met with Taliban authorities. “In all my meetings, the education of girls was the first issue that I raised,” he added.
Abdi also said he had received “affirmations” of the Taliban’s commitments to allow all girls to attend school. As for secondary school, he said they were allowed “only in five provinces,” but added that the UN is pushing for the right to be implemented throughout the country.
The group, known for its oppressive rule from 1996 to 2001, has faced international fury after effectively excluding women and girls from schools and work across the country, while incrementally stripping away Afghans’ freedoms.
