AIRLINK 172.75 Decreased By ▼ -2.98 (-1.7%)
BOP 13.24 Increased By ▲ 0.12 (0.91%)
CNERGY 7.41 Decreased By ▼ -0.13 (-1.72%)
FCCL 43.55 Decreased By ▼ -0.36 (-0.82%)
FFL 14.90 Decreased By ▼ -0.11 (-0.73%)
FLYNG 26.50 Decreased By ▼ -0.40 (-1.49%)
HUBC 129.58 Decreased By ▼ -0.65 (-0.5%)
HUMNL 13.35 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.07%)
KEL 4.44 Decreased By ▼ -0.06 (-1.33%)
KOSM 6.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.06 (-0.99%)
MLCF 55.73 Decreased By ▼ -0.30 (-0.54%)
OGDC 212.50 Decreased By ▼ -2.27 (-1.06%)
PACE 5.92 Decreased By ▼ -0.06 (-1%)
PAEL 41.14 Increased By ▲ 0.24 (0.59%)
PIAHCLA 16.36 Increased By ▲ 0.04 (0.25%)
PIBTL 9.61 Decreased By ▼ -0.14 (-1.44%)
POWER 11.53 Decreased By ▼ -0.23 (-1.96%)
PPL 178.85 Decreased By ▼ -2.63 (-1.45%)
PRL 33.60 Decreased By ▼ -0.62 (-1.81%)
PTC 22.83 Decreased By ▼ -0.23 (-1%)
SEARL 94.20 Decreased By ▼ -1.52 (-1.59%)
SILK 1.18 Increased By ▲ 0.04 (3.51%)
SSGC 35.10 Decreased By ▼ -0.35 (-0.99%)
SYM 15.75 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
TELE 7.82 Decreased By ▼ -0.05 (-0.64%)
TPLP 10.81 Decreased By ▼ -0.17 (-1.55%)
TRG 60.90 Increased By ▲ 0.40 (0.66%)
WAVESAPP 10.76 Decreased By ▼ -0.05 (-0.46%)
WTL 1.33 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-1.48%)
YOUW 3.80 Increased By ▲ 0.03 (0.8%)
BR100 12,027 Decreased By -26.7 (-0.22%)
BR30 36,333 Decreased By -134 (-0.37%)
KSE100 113,804 Decreased By -552.4 (-0.48%)
KSE30 35,097 Decreased By -250 (-0.71%)

WASHINGTON: Afghanistan’s interior minister promised “very good news” soon on the return of girls to secondary schools, in a rare interview broadcast Monday by CNN.

At the end of March, the Taliban, who took power after US forces withdrew from the country last August, closed high schools and colleges for girls just hours after their reopening.

The unexpected reversal, ordered by Hibatullah Akhundzada, the supreme leader of the Taliban and of the country, outraged many Afghans and the international community.

“I would like to provide some clarification.

There is no one who opposes education for women,” said Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, long one of the most secretive Taliban leaders and who only showed his face in public for the first time in March.

He argued that girls could already go to primary school. “Above that grade, the work is continuing on a mechanism” to allow girls to attend secondary school, he said in his first televised interview.

“Very soon you will hear very good news about this issue,” he said.

Haqqani hinted that the “mechanism” was linked to school dress codes, explaining that education should be based on Afghan “culture” and “Islamic rules and principles,” and referred “more broadly” to the issue of women wearing the hijab.

After their return to power, the Taliban demanded that women wear at least a hijab, a scarf covering the head but revealing the face.

But since the beginning of May, they have instead forced them to wear a full veil in public and preferably a burqa, which had been compulsory when they first ran the country between 1996 and 2001.

“If someone is giving away their daughters or sisters, they do that based on total trust,” he said.

“We must establish the conditions so that we can ensure their honor and security. We are acting to ensure this.”

The Haqqani network that was founded by his late father and which he now heads is accused of carrying out some of the most violent attacks perpetrated by the Taliban in Afghanistan in the past 20 years.

Sirajuddin Haqqani himself is still on the FBI’s most wanted list, with a $10 million reward for any information that could lead to his arrest.

On CNN, the minister said that “the last 20 years was a situation of defensive fighting and war” but that he wanted in the future “to have good relations with the United States and the international community.”

“We do not look at them as enemies,” he said, insisting that the Taliban intends to respect the agreement signed with Washington in 2020, in which they pledged not to let Afghanistan become a haven for terrorists targeting Americans again.

Comments

Comments are closed.