The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Taliban Government, Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, has criticized the veto on girls’ education imposed more than two years ago in Afghanistanan atypical public questioning of fundamentalist regimewhich is presented as a monolithic movement.

“This is everyone’s right. This is the natural right that God and the prophet have given them, how can anyone take this right away from them? If someone violates this right, It will be an oppression against the Afghans and the people of this country,” said Stanikzai during a school graduation ceremony. The criticism was made in a speech during a ceremony that took place in Kabul, according to a video and statements released this Friday by several Afghan media, which you can see illustrating These lines.

The rise to power of the Taliban has made Afghanistan becomes the only country in the world that bans women from higher education. In addition, it has prohibited girls from receiving education beyond the sixth grade. The vice minister has attributed this measure to the reason why people have distanced themselves from the regime that took control of the country with an iron fist, after the defeat of the US-backed government and the withdrawal of international troops.

Stanikzai has stated that a society without knowledge is “dark”, according to the Afghan media Tolo News. “We must try to reopen the doors of educational institutions for everyone. Today our only problem with our neighbors and the world is due to the issue of education. If the nation is distancing itself from us and is angry with us, it is because of the educational issue. “, has held.

Division on the ‘prison’ to which women are subjected

This position suggests the existence of contrary positions that They divide the de facto Government of Afghanistan, that has failed to obtain recognition from the international community for the violations of rights, mainly of women. Stanekzai, who completed higher education at a military school in the period before the first Taliban regime, was part of the negotiating team that agreed with the United States on the withdrawal of American troops.

Despite promises of change, Taliban have imposed a series of increasing restrictions and bans on Afghan women, leading to a situation that is increasingly approaching the situation during his first regime between 1996 and 2001, when women were excluded from public life.

Among the trickle of restrictions imposed against women is the suspension of secondary and university educationthe obligation to wear the face coveredsegregation by sex or requiring the accompaniment of a male member of the family for long journeys and restrictions on working.