The head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, Jan Egeland, on Saturday criticized the restrictions on girls and women’s education in Afghanistan, saying that it is “intolerable.”

After visiting a carpet weaving center in Herat province, Egeland lamented that girls who were deprived of education beyond primary school are now forced to weave carpets.

“It is an intolerable denial of fundamental human rights,” he said on X.

Egeland also expressed concern over the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, saying that the world has ignored the crisis.

He noted that 22 million people in Afghanistan need humanitarian assistance and with that, Pakistan has sent back 800,000 refugees and Iran plans to deport two million.

Egeland also said that donors are surprisingly slow to fund projects supporting Afghan female entrepreneurs.

Restrictions on female education in Afghanistan have been repeatedly criticized by foreign governments and even some in the Islamic Emirate.

Political deputy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, recently said that the restrictions are not according to Sharia, as it is claimed.

“I ask the leaders of the Emirate to open the door of knowledge,” Stanikzai said at a ceremony in Khost province. “There is no excuse for this, nor should there be one. In the time of the Prophet (pbuh), the door of knowledge was open to men and women. Half of the knowledge is narrated from Bibi Ayesha (RA). Similarly, there were prophet’s companions who taught other companions. There were blessed women who were teachers of great mujtahids. They acquired knowledge from them. If women were in trouble or men were in trouble, they would ask Bibi Ayesha. That’s because she was a scholar.”

“Today we are doing injustice to 20 million of the 40 million people. Will we not rise on the Day of Judgment paralyzed and having denied all rights? The right of inheritance is not given to girls. The right to choose a husband is not given. We get girls married in Baad practice. We don’t allow education. We don’t allow them to go to the mosque. The doors of the universities and schools are closed. We don’t even let them go to madrassa. Are we acting in accordance with the Sharia?
“Another issue is that the whole world has a problem with us on this issue. They criticize us about it. But the path we have taken is a matter of our own liking, not the Sharia.”

Baad is a method of settlement and compensation whereby a female from a criminal’s family is given to the victim’s family as a servant or a bride.