Afghan city, gateway to Iran and Turkmenistan, largest in Herat Province
A girl in Afghanistan, who posed as a boy to attend school under Taliban rule, has grown up to become a journalist and now studies at Cambridge. She fled Afghanistan in 2021 after the Taliban’s return and now runs a news agency highlighting women’s oppression.
UN reports a rising number of girls deprived of secondary schooling in Afghanistan, with the ban affecting education, health, and the economy. The Taliban’s restrictions have widened gaps in literacy and teacher availability, prompting international calls to lift the ban.
UNESCO has warned that Afghanistan remains the only country that formally bars girls and women from secondary and higher education. The agency has said the five-year exclusion has reversed two decades of progress, pushed 2.4 million girls out of school, narrowed women’s work options and deepened economic and social harms. UNESCO says it will keep running community literacy and skills programs while pressing for full restoration of educational rights.
The Taliban’s General Directorate of Intelligence has detained six staffers from a women’s rights NGO and two UNAMA employees. The UN and Human Rights groups are calling for access, transparency and immediate release, as humanitarian work and aid delivery face growing obstacles amid cross-border clashes and a tightening security environment.