Taliban leader backs girls' right to education but wants them to only learn Sharia lessons

A senior Taliban leader has advocated for women’s right to education, saying that it is right based on Islamic culture and values. Sher Mohammad Abbas Shanikzai, on Sunday, said that it was the responsibility of the government to provide a safe education to females. His remarks came days after the Sunni Islamist government issued a diktat barring girls from attending school after sixth grade.

“Women can’t even ask for their inheritance. They are deprived of the right to education. Where will women learn Shariah’s lessons? Women make up half of Afghanistan’s population,” he said at an event marking the death anniversary of former leader Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour. Shanikzai backed his stance by asserting that women should also be provided with all their rights based on Islamic culture and values.

At the event, he also slammed the small budget for development in economic sectors and also said that due to the economic challenges, people were forced to leave the country. “We don’t have a chair in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), we don’t have a chair in the United Nations and we don’t have a political office in Europe,” he said. Prices of all commodities, including the essentials, have skyrocketed in recent weeks. 

Taliban curtails female rights 

The Taliban had previously issued an official decree requiring female staff members of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) to wear the hijab in their offices, as well as limiting Afghan women's access to make-up and reproductive rights, with a ban on education for girls in grades 6 and above. Hundreds of Afghan women are protesting the Taliban leader's new ban on hijab-wearing women. The Taliban has threatened the women that if they don't obey the order, their parents would be punished and imprisoned, according to media reports.

During their previous regime, from 1996 to 2001, the Islamist group forbade women from getting any kind of education and blatantly denied their right to work. They also stopped women from travelling outside their homes without a male relative accompanying them. Some of the more gruesome acts by the Taliban include public executions and floggings.

(With inputs from AP)