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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.
Afghanistan’s Ministry of Industry and Commerce has announced that a high-level delegation from Uzbekistan, comprising government officials and private sector representatives, led by Jamshid Khojaev, Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan, arrived in Kabul on Saturday.
According to the ministry’s statement, the delegation was welcomed at Kabul International Airport by Nooruddin Azizi, Minister of Industry and Commerce.
The Ministry of Industry and Commerce added that the purpose of the Uzbek delegation’s visit to Kabul is to hold meetings and discussions with officials of the Islamic Emirate and representatives of Afghanistan’s private sector, as well as to participate in the trade forum.
Sadin Ayyıldız, Chargé d’Affaires of the Turkish Embassy in Kabul, held a courtesy meeting on Saturday with Attaullah Omari, Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
The Turkish Embassy in Kabul said in a post on X that during the meeting, the two sides held constructive and fruitful discussions on expanding cooperation in the agriculture sector.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday renewed his call for Afghanistan to take action against militant groups, saying Afghan territory should not be used to launch attacks against Pakistan.
“Pakistan shares over 2,600-kilometre border with its neighbour and has repeatedly urged the Afghan authorities to act against terrorist organisations and prevent Afghan territory from being used against Pakistan,” Sharif said speaking at an event in Balochistan province. “However, the Afghan interim government has failed to take effective action against these groups.”
Pakistan has repeatedly accused the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan of failing to curb the activities of militant groups that Islamabad says carry out attacks inside Pakistan. The Islamic Emirate has consistently rejected the allegations, insisting that Afghan territory is not used against any country and calling on Pakistan to address its own security challenges internally.
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