More than two million girls in Afghanistan have been stopped from continuing their education beyond the primary school level since the Taliban's return to power five years ago, the United Nations’ cultural, education and scientific agency UNESCO said on Tuesday (August 11).
The Taliban has banned women from most public sector jobs and limited girls to receiving an education only until the age of 12.
UNESCO expert Hoda Jaberian said an estimated 2.4 million girls had been excluded from secondary and higher education and the longer the restrictions remained in place the greater the impact would be for the country.
"This is a complete vicious cycle. Of course, fewer girls are able to study, fewer women can become teachers and professionals, and the education system, little by little, loses the human capital it needs to recover", Jaberian said.
UNESCO said in a statement if the trend continued it projected nearly four million girls would be excluded from education above the primary level by 2030.
"Afghan girls and women have the right to learn. I wish to reiterate that. That's a basic human right", Jaberian said. "Our request is for the world not to look away from them until their human rights are restored."
The Taliban regained power in August 2021 after the sudden withdrawal of U.S.-led forces. The new government has the stated goal of building an Islamic society based on sharia law following 20 years of comparatively liberal Western-backed rule.
The Taliban have said they respect women's rights in accordance with their interpretation of Islamic law and Afghan culture.
They made a sharp u-turn on promises to open high schools for girls in 2022, and have since said they were working on a plan for the schools to re-open but have not given any timeline. They closed universities to female students at the end of 2022.
The policies have been widely criticised internationally, including by Islamic scholars, and Western diplomats have said any path towards formal recognition of the Taliban is blocked until there is a change on their policies towards women.