https://arab.news/wp8ek
The Taliban begin their fifth year in power in Afghanistan with no sign of major change on the horizon. Schools and colleges remain closed to girls and women, as do workplaces, with the familiar excuse that a special framework for female education is still being prepared. The root cause of these restrictions is nothing other than the Taliban’s supreme leader’s arbitrary decision, even though most of the Taliban leadership in Kabul agree that there should be no such ban. The concentration of power in the hands of one individual makes any flexibility on this critical issue all but impossible. While four years of lost education for Afghan girls might seem like a short period, in reality it represents millions of hours of lost learning in the life of a nation — a nation that cherishes knowledge, but has been deprived of it due to regional and global political rivalries.
Ever since taking control of the country, the Taliban have consistently sought recognition. So far, only Russia recognizes them as a legitimate government. Although there are a host of preconditions for their recognition, the major obstacle remains their denial of women’s legitimate rights. Such irrational stubbornness does no good to the Taliban themselves, let alone the millions of Afghan girls whose dreams of becoming doctors, engineers, and teachers are being crushed. I wish the Taliban understood that it is not merely their recognition at stake. It affects the fate of 40 million Afghans who aspire to live a normal and respectable life like people in the rest of the world. Being isolated from the world comes at a cost to the country’s economic, social, and political life.
