Taliban to announce framework for girls' education 'soon': UN official

"The de facto minister of education told us that they are working on a framework, which they will announce soon, that will allow all girls to go to secondary school, and we are expecting that to happen very soon," UNICEF deputy executive director Omar Abdi said at the United Nations in New York on Friday.

For weeks now the Taliban have been saying that they will allow girls to return to school as soon as possible.

The Islamist group, notorious for its brutal and oppressive rule from 1996 to 2001, has faced international fury after effectively excluding women and girls from schools and work across the country, while incrementally stripping away Afghans' freedoms.

The Taliban permitted girls to attend primary school from the start, but have maintained that neither the girls nor their female teachers could return to secondary school yet.

Taliban officials have said that can happen only once the girls' security and strict gender segregation can be ensured under the group's restrictive interpretation of sharia law, adding that more time is needed to put this framework in place.

Abdi noted that, as he spoke, "millions of girls of secondary school age are missing out on education for the 27th consecutive day."

He said the UN has urged the Taliban authorities now governing Afghanistan "not to wait" on educating girls.

Abdi said he had visited Afghanistan the week before and met with Taliban authorities.

"In all my meetings, the education of girls was the first issue that I raised."

He said he had received "affirmations" of the Taliban's commitments to allow girls to attend primary school.

As for secondary school, he said they were allowed "only in five provinces," but added that the UN is pushing for the right to be implemented throughout the country.

SOURCE: AFP