The United States pulled out their remaining troops from Afghanistan in 2020 after years occupying the country, cementing the country to Taliban rule. The new ruling government has instituted a number of new rules centered around their form of strict religion.
Their new form of government has included changing education for the roughly 30 million citizens of the country. The focus, however, has been within women’s education, and specifically, the lack thereof. The country has already barred all women from receiving an education past sixth grade, with rumors of the country barring women from medical education coming out last September.
This has been a source of tension within both the country itself and internationally. In Afghanistan, women and girls can only be treated by female doctors and healthcare professionals, meaning that without the access to training there would be serious consequences for the rest of the female population. Although the medical education ban is still unconfirmed, the international backlash from the general education ban has been severe with the United Nations (UN) barring recognition of the new state if the female population doesn’t have full access to education.
Internally, Sher Abbas Stanikzai, political deputy at the Foreign Ministry in Afghanistan, has publicly called out the leader’s decision to repeal female education, calling for the immediate reversal. Stanikzai was the head of the Afghani team responsible for making the deal to remove foreign troops from the country in 2020. Stanikzai has also been a public supporter of women’s right to education, making multiple comments during many of the regime’s decisions to ban women from different forms of education.
However, this is the first time he has publicly called out to the leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, to call out the government’s behavior. Not only has Stanikzai gone against a decision made by the state but now he has questioned the legitimacy of the state’s current approach.
Along with this, Malala Yousafzai, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has called into question the regime’s actions, calling to other Islamic leaders to challenge the Afghan government with their actions towards female education. Both Yousafzai and Stanikzai have reasoned that these decisions have not been made with religious idealism in mind, instead they have been made through the government’s own selfish actions.
This comes during a time where the Taliban government has been continuing their efforts to be recognized as the ruling government of Afghanistan on an international stage. With the UN ban on any further attempts at recognition as long as the government bans female education it seems as though the new Taliban government has no choice. However, there has been further progress towards recognition from Russia and India as those parties have moved in to creating stronger bonds with the newer state. This is another addition to the rise in Anti-American sentiment throughout the world with organizations like BRICS growing to counter American influence, it is clear that the new Taliban government is clearing a path towards recognition through these countries.
