Since the Taliban took power in Afghanistan in 2021, it has been isolated in the international community, and currently only a handful of countries are willing to establish exchanges and cooperation with it. One of the main reasons is the Taliban's extremely discriminatory policies towards women's rights, such as restricting women from going to school, restricting women's employment, restricting women's access to public places, etc. Recently, the Taliban's foreign minister publicly spoke out in an attempt to fight for more rights for women, attracting the attention of the international community.

Taliban foreign minister: Girls should go back to school

On January 20th, Taliban Acting Deputy Foreign Minister Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai publicly called on senior leaders to open schools for Afghan girls and allow girls to return to school. Stanikzai once led the negotiation team at the Taliban's political office in Doha before the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan in 2021. He is one of the few enlightened people in the Taliban government. He also made it clear in a previous speech that restricting girls and women's access to education is contrary to Sharia law.

According to Afghan TV station Tolo, Stanikzai made a sincere request when referring to the Taliban regime in his speech: "We implore the leaders of the Islamic Emirate to open the door to education." He also quoted history and said: "In the time of Prophet Muhammad, the door to knowledge is open to both men and women. Today, there are 20 million women in Afghanistan out of a population of 40 million, but we are so unfair to them.”

A rare voice of justice

Within the Taliban government, officials have rarely expressed such strong public criticism of the school closure policy in recent years. Previously, sources within the Taliban and diplomats had revealed to the media that despite internal differences, the policy of closing schools was decided by supreme spiritual leader Hibatullah Akhundzada. The Taliban government is a centralized theocratic country. To make such a subversive speech in such a political environment under absolute authority control, this can be described as a righteous voice for Stanikzai who regards death as his own. And this is also a valuable voice within the Taliban government for many years.

The Taliban have previously claimed that they respect women's rights based on their understanding of Islamic law and Afghan culture. However, in 2022, the Taliban suddenly changed its promise to open high schools for girls. Since then, although it has stated that it is formulating plans to reopen schools, it has never given a clear time. At the end of 2022, the Taliban even closed universities for female students.

These policies of the Taliban have been criticized internationally, and Islamic scholars have also expressed dissatisfaction. Western diplomats have made it clear that if the Taliban does not change its policy towards women, it will have no hope of gaining official recognition from the international community.

Expectations for subsequent developments

Stanikzai's remarks aroused strong reactions from many people in Afghanistan and the entire Islamic world, but so far the Taliban government spokesperson has not responded to Stanikzai's remarks.

The main reason why the Taliban has such oppressive and discriminatory policies against women is that it has an overly extreme and harsh interpretation of ancient Islamic laws under the concept of an Islamic theocratic state. Traditional Islamic law believes that women should assume the responsibility of taking care of the family, but the Taliban radically believes that once women receive education and work outside the home, it will hinder them from correctly exercising their responsibilities and obligations as women. Although there are differences of opinion within the Taliban on the issue of banning girls from receiving education, conservatives still dominate the organization and it is difficult to shake the policy of the supreme spiritual leader.

However, it must be pointed out that the Taliban currently has an urgent diplomatic need to find more partners outside of China, and changes in women's policies are precisely the prerequisite for being accepted by the international community. In the actions of Stanikzai and other "righteous men", this may also awaken more opposition voices within the Taliban government. Perhaps in the future, girls living in Afghanistan can receive the protection of Allah and receive the gift of carrying a schoolbag and entering school.