Taliban guarantees that women and girls will be able to study and work under their rule have been thrown into doubt after one of their leaders said that the decision would be left to a council of Islamic scholars.
“Our scholars will decide whether girls are allowed to go to school or not,” Waheedullah Hashimi, a senior Taliban leader said, less than 24 hours after the group held its first press conference and promised that women would be allowed to work and study.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the previously unknown spokesman who chaired the Taliban’s first press conference as the de facto leaders of Afghanistan, had sought to present a more moderate face to the world than that of the regime that ruled with an iron fist
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