It has been over a thousand days since the Taliban closed girls’ schools. Various human rights organizations, women’s rights activists, and political and cultural figures have responded to the thousand-day mark of this closure with differing reactions. Some political figures have labeled the demand for just reopening girls’ schools under the Taliban regime as an absolute evil, covering up other miseries inflicted by this group on the people. According to them, the new generation of Afghanistan must learn to think beyond the framework of Western discourse. They have stated that the Taliban view women from a top-down perspective and see them as a “source of evil and corruption.” Others have called for the reopening of girls’ schools and the lifting of restrictions against women. UNICEF has reported that girls have lost three billion hours of education over the past thousand days. At the same time, many girls deprived of education have stated that they have endured endless suffering and that their dreams have turned into nightmares.
Various cultural and political figures, women’s rights activists, and human rights organizations have shown different reactions to the thousand-day mark of the Taliban’s closure of girls’ schools. Some have argued that reopening these schools under Taliban rule would promote and institutionalize fundamentalism, stating that the curriculum under this group would aid in spreading Taliban ideology instead of providing modern education.
On the other hand, some political figures have seen the campaigns for reopening girls’ schools under Taliban rule as reducing citizens’ demands for a natural right for girls and women, arguing that the new generation of Afghanistan should think beyond the framework of Western discourse and the whitewashing of the Taliban, and not reduce a thousand days of absolute evil to a single evil.
Abdullah Khenjani, former Deputy State Minister for Peace in the previous government, reacted to the thousand-day mark of the school closures by saying that the thousand days of absolute evil should not be reduced to girls not attending school, covering up other miseries in the country. Mr. Khenjani added, “The new generation must learn to think beyond the framework of Western discourse. One of the thousand problems of these thousand days is the non-attendance of girls in school. The Taliban see women as inferior beings, insignificant, secondary, and sources of corruption and evil. The Taliban view women as second-class and unequal, from a top-down perspective.”
This former government official emphasized that basic demands should not be allowed to fall to the level of a natural right for girls. He claimed, “This is the discursive trap that has been imposed on the dominant mindset of our society by the whitewashing of the Taliban.”
Sabira Akbari, one of the protesting women, wrote, “Because of the dirty politics of the Taliban and world countries, girls in Afghanistan have been deprived of school for a thousand days.” She has called on the country’s citizens to think about the depth of this tragedy and that girls do not deserve such a dark fate.
Nader Nadery, a member of the former government’s peace negotiation team in Doha, said, “A thousand and one dark days, a thousand and one endless painful stories of the girls of our land. A thousand and one thick books of history will record with unparalleled disgust the insignificance and hatred of this group, ignorant of civilization and religion, against knowledge and school.”
Meanwhile, the Coalition of Afghanistan Women’s Protest Movements has reacted to the thousand-day closure of girls’ schools by calling on the international community and educational support organizations to stand by women and girls of Afghanistan and cut ties with the “misogynistic and primitive Taliban regime.” This coalition has said that the international community should sever all relations with the “misogynistic and primitive ruling group in Afghanistan and create the conditions for establishing a popular and democratic government so that all segments of society can equally enjoy all human rights and privileges.”
At the same time, Amnesty International has called for the immediate reopening of schools for girls. This organization has emphasized that girls in Afghanistan have been deprived of their right to education due to the Taliban’s discriminatory and unjust policies. According to this organization, the Taliban’s policies are against international laws. This organization, by launching the “Education is not a crime” campaign, has asked the Taliban to immediately open all secondary and high schools to girls.
On the other hand, an organization called “Rawadari” has launched a campaign named “Iqra” to lift educational bans on girls. This organization has asked, “Will a thousand days of school deprivation turn into several thousand days, and will the schools reopen?”
Shaharzad Akbar, the former head of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), stated in a video message that this campaign highlights the stories of girls deprived of education, with some wishing they were boys so they could continue their studies.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported that girls above the sixth grade in Afghanistan under Taliban rule have lost three billion hours of education. UNICEF stated that the systematic deprivation of 1.5 million girls from education by the Taliban is not only a blatant violation of the right to education but also leads to reduced opportunities and worsened mental health for these girls.
However, Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Afghanistan, noted that despite the Taliban’s bans, Afghan girls are not willing to give up on their dreams. In a statement, he said that despite enduring a thousand days of “unacceptable and unimaginable” bans on education, millions of girls in Afghanistan continue to hold onto their dreams. Bennett emphasized, “We must all stand together to defend the right to education for every girl in Afghanistan. Education is not only a human right that cannot wait but also a powerful catalyst for a better, more equal, and prosperous world.” He called on the world to work for the right to education for Afghan girls.
In commemoration of the thousand-day closure of girls’ schools, the Malala Yousafzai Foundation, led by the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has allocated $1.5 million to support girls’ education in Afghanistan. Malala Yousafzai stated that girls in Afghanistan face gender discrimination.
Rina Amiri, the U.S. Special Envoy for Afghan Women, Girls, and Human Rights, remarked, “A thousand days of shattered dreams for the youth.” She stressed that the Taliban’s decision has destroyed Afghanistan’s future and enforced extreme policies.
These reactions come as girls deprived of education in Afghanistan describe their thousand days as filled with suffering, darkness, and pain, with deep wounds inflicted on their souls. They say every moment of the past thousand days felt like a knife to their hearts, adding salt to the wounds of their deprivation. They liken the thousand days to a century of silence, isolation, and regression for women in Afghanistan, with countless golden opportunities lost for the country.
Mehrafza, a student deprived of education due to the Taliban’s misogynistic policies, says her palace of hopes has shattered, adding to her wall of despair and grief. She emphasizes that she feels as if girls are “dead and voiceless.” She describes these thousand days as a nightmare, spent with a throat full of sobs and eyes brimming with tears. This deprived student notes that she has grown older, and her family no longer expects the schools to reopen, murmuring that she should now “find her fortune (get married),” a step that she believes will destroy all her dreams.
Meanwhile, some women and girls see the reopening of girls’ schools under Taliban rule as a means to promote Taliban ideology and foster fundamentalism in Afghanistan and the region. They express concern about the lack of clear information on the curriculum under the Taliban, fearing that girls might be indoctrinated with the group’s fundamentalist teachings.
This concern follows a report by the Hasht-e Subh Daily from Kunduz province, revealing that girls in Taliban religious schools are encouraged to marry Taliban fighters. According to the report, some girls stated that they were created to serve men and should not be involved in political or governmental matters.
You can read the Persian version of this daily report here:
واکنشها به «هزار روز شر مطلق»؛ نسل جدید قدرت فکر کردن فراتر از گفتمان غربی را بیاموزد