‘Don’t use restrictions on girls’ education against us’, says senior Taliban leader
Girls’ rights to education in Afghanistan will be solved with “the passage of time” and should not be a “condition for aid” from the international community, a senior Taliban leader has told Sky News.
Anas Haqqani made the remarks as the Taliban marks one year since it captured the Afghan capital Kabul and regained control of the country following the US-led withdrawal after a 20-year campaign.
International funding to Afghanistan was later suspended and billions of dollars of the country’s assets abroad were frozen due to the Taliban’s human rights abuses and stance on issues such as women’s rights.
Asked whether it would be a good idea for his government to compromise on issues such as allowing girls to have a secondary school education in exchange for aid, Mr Haqqani said: “Regarding education, the Islamic Emirates has made its decision clear to everyone that this issue is one of many incomplete issues across the ministries.
“This part of the education sector needs to be worked out and completed, like all other incomplete plans in other ministries.
“Half of the process is functional, and as you can see, the universities are open, the schools are open for girls up to grade six, and you can see in other provinces that schools are open for girls up to the ninth grade.
“There are no politics involved with this, and with the passage of time this issue will be solved. We want the international community and other institutions to not use it negatively, or use it against us, and it should not be a condition for aid.”
Mr Haqqani also said the country’s economy was in a poor state before the Taliban took control of Afghanistan last year, adding it “only benefited those in power and they were sucking the blood out of the Afghan nation”.
He continued: “You cannot find a single hospital with all the facilities and quality services despite the billions of dollars the international community and NATO countries gave to Afghanistan.
“(Healthcare) is not at the same level as Pakistan and Iran, our Afghans are still going to these counties for their medical treatment. And this is all because of the brutal economic system that they had for the last 20 years, and it should not be called a quality economic system but should be called a brutal economic system.”
Mr Haqqani spoke to Sky News as a damning new report said the US-led withdrawal from Afghanistan was carried out with no planning, was mired in “chaos and confusion”, and ended in “tragic yet avoidable outcomes”.
The US withdrawal led to the sudden mass evacuation of thousands of displaced Afghans.
Read more:
The Taliban still celebrating a year after taking control of Afghanistan
Evacuation of Kabul happened in ‘chaos and confusion’ with ‘tragic yet avoidable outcomes’, damning report claims
One year on from the Taliban takeover, crisis grips Afghanistan’s biggest children’s hospital
Reflecting on the one-year anniversary of the Taliban taking control of the country, Haqqani said: “This is a proud day for us, we have achieved everything that other nations in the world also celebrate, their Independence Day, and today we have this day.
“This is our absolute right, and we carried out Jihad to achieve this.
“We have paid a very high price for this achievement, we were innocent, and we did not interfere in other national and internal matters, but we were invaded, and we have achieved our rights.”
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