MOSCOW – Amir Khan Muttaqi, the acting foreign minister of Afghanistan, during a meeting of Afghan religious scholars with a delegation of the United Arab Emirates, has said that females will return to schools as soon as internal issues in Afghanistan are resolved, the Tolo News broadcaster reported yesterday, citing a source with the UAE delegation.
According to the report, the meeting, which was attended by the Afghan minister for propagation of virtue and prevention of vice and the deputy minister of higher education, also touched upon the issue of females’ education in Afghanistan, reported Sputnik.
Muttaqi said that females’ attendance at schools is not considered “haram” (forbidden) and not prohibited in Islam, according to the source.
The minister added that females’ attendance at schools is not a religious issue, but an internal problem in Afghanistan that the government would take some time to solve. Females will return to schools once the problem is resolved by the government, the source told the media, citing Muttaqi.
In late 2022, the Taliban government (under United Nations sanctions for terrorism) ordered all local and international non-governmental organisations in Afghanistan to suspend the work of their female employees.
The Afghan Education Ministry, in turn, ordered the suspension of females’ education in private and state higher education institutions, while secondary education for girls has been prohibited in Afghanistan since September 2021. The decision of the Afghan authorities has been harshly criticised by a number of international organisations and global leaders. – Bernama, March 17, 2023
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