The Taliban’s Move to Substitute Girls’ Schools with Religious institutions has triggered extensive responses both domestically and internationally. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) asserts that abundant evidence supports the attendance of girls of all ages in Taliban-controlled religious schools. The UN Human Rights Watch has condemned this action by the Taliban, deeming it unacceptable. In response to protests from both domestic and international quarters, Taliban officials have reacted. The acting head of the Ministry of Higher Education under Taliban control stated that the global community should refrain from opposing the Taliban’s directives on veiling and stoning. He emphasized that religious scholars associated with the group actively resist these objections.
Meanwhile, the Taliban’s Chief of General Staff declared that over the past 20 years, the United States aimed to eradicate religious schools. Political and human rights activists have labeled the substitution of girls’ schools with Taliban religious schools as unsafe, underscoring its potential to fuel extremism and fundamentalism. They contend that the United Nations has strayed from its principles by collaborating with the Taliban.
Following widespread domestic and international reactions regarding the replacement of girls’ schools with religious schools, Neda Mohammad Nadeem, the acting head of the Ministry of Higher Education under Taliban control, claimed during a graduation ceremony at a religious school in Kabul that foreign countries, under the pretext of criticism, aim to portray a negative image of Afghanistan to the world.
This Taliban official, who is close to the absent supreme leader of the group and considered a staunch opponent of women’s education in the country, has issued a warning to Taliban members. He cautioned that foreign countries intend to seize anything he refers to as the implementation of “Islamic Penalties” under the guise of “violation of human rights.”
Nadeem stated, “Sometimes they protest against the hijab, sometimes against stoning, and sometimes against expressing Islamic symbols. Honorable scholars must understand that you [students of the religious schools] must confront every wicked, misguided, and irreligious challenge.”
Simultaneously, Qari Fasihuddin Fitrat, the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Taliban, in response to concerns about the replacement of girls’ schools with religious schools, has claimed that the United States, during its 20 years in Afghanistan, sought to eliminate religious schools.
According to The Associated Press (AP), there are approximately 20,000 religious schools in Afghanistan, with 13,500 of them operating under the control of the Taliban’s Ministry of Education.
Quoting Mansoor Ahmad, the spokesperson for the Taliban’s Ministry of Education, the media reported that there are no age restrictions for girls in the group’s religious schools. According to him, the only condition is that girls should attend classes appropriate for their age. The Taliban official added that there are no age restrictions for private madrasas, and women of any age can participate.
This comes as Roza Otunbayeva, the head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), stated in a Security Council session that the organization has received “abundant evidence” indicating that girls can study in Taliban-controlled religious schools “more and more” and “at any age.” She mentioned that UNAMA has been unable to obtain information about the curriculum of these schools.
The head of UNAMA added that it is unclear what subjects the Taliban’s religious schools teach. The organization has not been able to access the educational materials of Taliban schools. She also stated that 10 million children are engaged in learning religious teachings in Taliban’s religious schools.
These statements by the head of UNAMA have elicited strong reactions in the UN Security Council. Some politicians and human rights activists have accused the United Nations of aligning with the Taliban and deviating from the organization’s principles. According to them, promoting the replacement of Taliban’s religious schools instead of modern schools fosters extremism and fundamentalism, with destructive consequences for Afghanistan.
Abdullah Khenjani, the former Deputy State Ministry for Peace of the previous government of Afghanistan, considers the Taliban’s replacement of schools with religious Madrasas as a strategic move aimed at transferring jihadist radicalism from the “Pashtun Belt” to the north and west of Afghanistan, close to Central Asia and Iran.
This former government official stated, “It seems that the United Nations is acting as an enabler and catalyst in this complex geopolitical game. The Taliban, under the guise of humanitarian aid, exploit the opportunity by establishing jihadist schools to advance their jihadist goals.”
Mr. Khenjani asserts that the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) plays a role in financing the Taliban’s jihadist structures. According to him, despite the concerns of the Security Council, the head of UNAMA in Kabul supports the Taliban’s jihadist schools and commends the participation of female students. He emphasizes that these manipulated tactics can impose destructive consequences on the Afghan people for decades.
On the other hand, Samira Hamidi, the Afghanistan section head at Amnesty International, has responded to the recent statements by the head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) in the Security Council. She writes that following Amina Mohammed, the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, the head of UNAMA owes an apology to the people of Afghanistan for contemplating Taliban schools.
The Afghanistan section head of Amnesty International added that Taliban’s religious schools open pathways to radicalization, and favoring these schools over regular educational institutions is not a suitable substitute for anyone. According to her, such statements can be misleading, whether unintentionally or due to ignorance. She emphasizes that the head of UNAMA does not address the human rights violations by the Taliban, including the ban on girls’ education, low educational quality, and the Taliban’s approach to producing a generation of illiterates.
Nilofar Ayoubi, a human rights activist, also stated that these remarks, presented as misinformation in significant forums like the UN Security Council without an understanding of the school context, indicate that the United Nations is violating its principles of impartiality.
Ms. Ayoubi, pointing to UNICEF’s aid distribution to Taliban religious schools in Logar province, underscores that the substitution of religious schools with modern education in Afghanistan raises concerns regarding the United Nations’ alignment with the Taliban.
Furthermore, Heather Barr, the Women’s Rights Division director at Human Rights Watch, stated that the Taliban’s action to replace regular girls’ and boys’ schools with religious ones is “completely unacceptable.”
These concerns arise as the Hasht-e Subh Daily previously reported on the “Committee for the Revision of the Curriculum of Modern Schools” established by the Taliban, indicating that this group is reshaping the educational curriculum with a focus on “blood and hatred.”
In this “revision,” the Taliban, in addition to removing certain subjects from the educational curriculum, eliminated living creatures images, promoted jihad, justified bloodshed and destruction, prohibited discussions on democracy and human rights, opposed education and the freedoms of women, and proposed other measures aligning the content of textbooks with the ideology of the group. The Taliban curriculum emphasizes anti-Shiism and considers reading the United Nations as satanic.
