EU’s special envoy to Afghanistan said on Thursday he was told by officials of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) that there will be positive news on girls education in the next two weeks.

Thomas Niklasson told reporters in Kabul that he heard from several acting ministers that the IEA’s policy is still education for all.

“We were informed that there is a program and the details are being finalized,” Niklasson said. “We were told… that the Afghans would have positive news in the next two weeks.”

The envoy said that there are some issues where if progress is made further, “we could do more and we could engage more and we could provide more of assistance and be more flexible on some issues.”

He said that one of the key issues was the rights of girls to education.

In March, IEA backtracked on an announcement that high schools would open for girls, saying they would remain closed until a plan was drawn up in accordance with Islamic law for them to reopen.

On the issue of inclusive governance, Niklasson stated that “we are not calling for former Afghan leaders to come back and take over the country.”

“We are not calling for quotas whether it is about ethnic minorities or ethnic groups or men or women. Although, of course, we would find it reasonable that substantial number of the people in government would be women,” Niklasson said.

He said that Afghans should have a chance to say on who rules the country and what policies should be put in place.

“We do not call for an immediate national assembly or a Loya Jirga to decide on power sharing, if that happens it may very well be a very good thing,” Niklasson said. “What we ask for or what we suggest in any case is more of a dialogue or the establishment of a dialogue between the de facto authorities and people.”