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Ban on girls’ education in Afghanistan will be ‘catastrophic’: UNICEF
The U.N. children´s agency on Saturday urged the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) to immediately lift a lingering ban on girls’ education to save the future of millions who have been deprived of their right to education since the IEA returned to power in 2021.
The appeal by UNICEF comes as a new school year began in Afghanistan without girls beyond sixth grade. The ban, said the agency, has deprived 400,000 more girls of their right to education, bringing the total to 2.2 million.
“For over three years, the rights of girls in Afghanistan have been violated,” Catherine Russell, UNICEF executive director, said in a statement. “All girls must be allowed to return to school now. If these capable, bright young girls continue to be denied an education, then the repercussions will last for generations.”
A ban on the education of girls will harm the future of millions of Afghan girls, she said, adding that if the ban persists until 2030, “more than four million girls will have been deprived of their right to education beyond primary school.” The consequences, she added, will be “catastrophic.”
Russell warned that the decline in female doctors and midwives will leave women and girls without crucial medical care. This situation is projected to result in an estimated 1,600 additional maternal deaths and over 3,500 infant deaths. “These are not just numbers, they represent lives lost and families shattered,” she said.
The Islamic Emirate has previously said that the issue of girls’ education is an internal issue in Afghanistan and efforts are being made to resolve it.
Noor Mohammad Saqib, Afghanistan’s Minister of Hajj and Religious Affairs, has traveled to Saudi Arabia to directly supervise the affairs of Afghan pilgrims and lead this year’s hajj operations after the successful arrival of all 30,000 Afghan pilgrims in the kingdom.
According to the ministry, the visit is aimed at strengthening coordination, improving the management of hajj affairs, and closely monitoring the services being provided to Afghan pilgrims throughout the pilgrimage season.
During his trip, the minister is expected to inspect accommodation facilities, transportation arrangements, food distribution, healthcare services, and religious guidance programs for Afghan pilgrims in Makkah, Medina, and other holy sites. He will also evaluate measures taken to ensure the smooth and organized transfer of pilgrims to the sacred rituals areas.
The ministry said Saqib will hold meetings with officials of various hajj committees and provide recommendations aimed at improving organization, coordination, and the effective delivery of services to pilgrims.
As part of his visit, the minister is also scheduled to attend official conferences and meetings organized by the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah of Saudi Arabia, where he is expected to meet representatives from Islamic countries, hajj authorities, and contracting companies to discuss ways to further improve hajj services, expand facilities for pilgrims, and strengthen joint cooperation.
The Ministry of Hajj and Religious Affairs stated that members of the Afghan hajj mission, alongside hundreds of employees from contracted service companies, are actively working in committees responsible for transportation, food services, religious rituals, missing persons, and other operational matters.
The ministry added that all necessary measures are being taken to ensure Afghan pilgrims can perform their hajj rituals in a safe, organized, and peaceful environment.
Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, met on Thursday in Balkh province with the head of Uzbekistan’s Railway Administration.
According to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office, Uzbek officials said during the meeting that they plan to build a new 1.5-kilometer railway line at Nayebabad Station along the Hairatan–Mazar-e-Sharif railway route. They also intend to construct several warehouses along the line for loading and unloading goods.
Baradar welcomed the initiative and instructed officials of the Ministry of Public Works to jointly carry out the technical and construction work with the Uzbek side.
The construction of the new railway line and warehouses is expected to increase the capacity of Hairatan Port and provide greater facilities for traders.
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IEA says marriage separation regulation aligns with Sharia
The spokesman added that only in the past year, thousands of cases of forced marriages involving girls were addressed in the courts.
Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesman for the Islamic Emirate, said during an interview that criticism by some circles regarding the marriage separation regulation is not new and should not be given importance by those opposing Islamic principles.
Mujahid said those who accept Islamic laws should have no concerns in this regard, adding that there is no law within the Islamic Emirate that contradicts Islamic Sharia.
The spokesman also stated that under Islamic Sharia and Hanafi jurisprudence, fathers and grandfathers have guardianship and authority over their minor children, provided that they are kind, have no history of cruelty, are free from mental disorders, are not addicted to narcotics, and do not make decisions regarding their children because of poverty.
Mujahid further said that the ruling does not mean granting unrestricted permission to people, but was issued to create ease for the country’s courts so judges can make decisions more easily in such cases.
He stressed that the Supreme Leader has separately ordered that marrying off a girl without her consent is prohibited.
Mujahid added that only in the past year, thousands of cases of forced marriages involving girls were addressed in the courts of the Islamic Emirate and through the complaint-hearing department of the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, which he said shows the Islamic Emirate’s attention to women’s rights.
The remarks come after the Ministry of Justice recently published the marriage separation regulation. Some circles criticized the regulation, claiming that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan had allowed or facilitated the marriage of underage girls.
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