Bennett describes IEA as united but divided over girls’ education

The UN’s Special Human Rights Rapporteur for Afghanistan, said on Sunday at the Doha Forum that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) has a unified vision, but is divided on the issue of women’s education.

According to Richard Bennett, a former Minister of Higher Education of the Islamic Emirate was dismissed for supporting women’s education.

He did not name the dismissed official, but before Nada Mohammad Nadim, Acting Minister of Higher Education, Abdul Baqi Haqqani was acting minister of higher education.

“The unity of the Taliban (Islamic Emirate) is one of their strengths, because they consider unity to be very important. But in the matter of education, I don’t think they have this integrity. We have seen this difference in some statements,” Bennett said.

He also said that in a meeting with the former minister of education, the official talked about providing education for girls in universities in separate classes.

“We had detailed technical discussions about the education of women and girls,” Bennett said. However, the minister was removed from his post a few months later, Bennett said.

Bennett said it was probably because “Kandahar saw his views on education as very open and progressive.”

At the same time, the special representative of the US for Afghanistan’s women’s affairs and human rights also said in this meeting that the Islamic Emirate’s policies towards women have no religious or economic basis.

Rina Amiri, criticized the restrictions imposed on women’s right to education, work, travel and political participation, and said that these restrictions have no economic basis. According to the United Nations assessment, due to the unemployment of women in Afghanistan, $1 billion dollars of income has decreased and the work ban and ban on women’s education has had a destructive effect on families.

“I don’t think it has an economic basis, certainly not,” said Amiri.

She said the United Nations has “estimated that Afghanistan has lost more than $1 billion dollars in income, and this is actually destroying Afghanistan.”

Emphasizing that banning women’s education and work has no religious basis, Amiri said that 57 countries in the world said at the meeting of the Islamic Organization that banning women’s education and work is in conflict with Islamic values.

“I don’t think it has anything to do with religion,” she said. “I was earlier at the conference of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation of Women in Jeddah, where 57 countries participated and said that this is against the holy religion of Islam, this is politics.”

The Islamic Emirate, however, says that human rights and women’s rights are provided within the framework of Sharia law and they do not allow outside interference in internal matters.