Afghanistan: girls go back to secondary school in Kunduz province

The girls returned to some secondary schools in Kunduz province, northern Afghanistana Taliban leader announced on Tuesday, but this measure does not apply to the rest of the country.

A video posted by Suhail Shaheen, spokesman taliban, shows dozens of girls who they go back to school in Khan Abad, a city and a district in the province of Kunduz.

Most of them wear the traditional school uniform, a long black tunic and a white scarf, while others wear a black niqab that covers the entire face except the eyes. They are sitting on benches and waving Taliban flags.

“Girls go to secondary school in Khan Abad”, wrote Shaheen, who was appointed by the Taliban as their permanent representative to the United Nations.

But in Kabul, Mohamad Abid, an official from the Ministry of Education, explained to AFP that the rules had not changed. “Secondary schools are still closed for girls”, precise.

By mid-September, Afghan high schools had reopened, but only for boys. Girls are already allowed to go to primary school and private universities, but in non-mixed classes and on condition that their heads are fully covered.

A few days after the reopening of secondary schools (for boys), the Taliban government spokesman, Zabihulá Mujahid, assured that the girls would return to class “as soon as possible.”

The government wants above all to offer girls a “safe educational environment”, in accordance with the strict interpretation of sharia by the Taliban, which provides for the non-mixing of classes, he explained.

Girls’ absence from secondary schools sparked outrage from the international community, who fears that taliban impose the same kind of fundamentalist and brutal regime as when they were in power between 1996 and 2001.

At that time, women were largely excluded from public life and, with very few exceptions, were not allowed to study or work.

The Islamists also asked the women to stay home and not go back to work for the time being, citing security reasons. They assured that later they could go back to work, but separated from the men.

Although since returning to power in mid-August, the Taliban have tried to reassure the Afghan population and the international community that they will be less strict than in the past, their promises are hard to believe.

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