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Afghanistan’s school year begins without 1 million girls barred from education by Taliban

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  • The school year in Afghanistan began without girls, as the Taliban prohibited them from attending classes beyond the sixth grade.
  • More than 1 million girls are affected by the ban, according to the U.N. children’s agency.
  • Afghanistan is the sole country with such restrictions on education.

The school year in Afghanistan started Wednesday but without girls whom the Taliban barred from attending classes beyond the sixth grade, making it the only country with restrictions on female education.

The U.N. children’s agency says more than 1 million girls are affected by the ban. It also estimates 5 million were out of school before the Taliban takeover due to a lack of facilities and other reasons.

The Taliban’s education ministry marked the start of the new academic year with a ceremony that female journalists were not allowed to attend. The invitations sent out to reporters said: «Due to the lack of a suitable place for the sisters, we apologize to female reporters.»

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During a ceremony, the Taliban’s education minister, Habibullah Agha, said that the ministry is trying «to increase the quality of education of religious and modern sciences as much as possible.» The Taliban have been prioritizing Islamic knowledge over basic literacy and numeracy with their shift toward madrassas, or religious schools.

A girl reads a book in her classroom on the first day of the new school year on March 25, 2023, in Kabul. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)

The minister also called on students to avoid wearing clothes that contradict Islamic and Afghan principles.

Abdul Salam Hanafi, the Taliban’s deputy prime minister, said they were trying to expand education in «all remote areas in the country.»

The Taliban previously said girls continuing their education went against their strict interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia, and that certain conditions were needed for their return to school. However, they made no progress in creating said conditions.

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When they ruled Afghanistan in the 1990s, they also banned girls’ education.

Despite initially promising a more moderate rule, the group has also barred women from higher education, public spaces like parks, and most jobs as part of harsh measures imposed after they took over following the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces from the country in 2021.

The ban on girls’ education remains the Taliban’s biggest obstacle to gaining recognition as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan.

Although Afghan boys have access to education, Human Rights Watch has criticized the Taliban, saying their «abusive» educational policies are harming boys as well as girls. The group, in a report published in December, said there has been less attention to the deep harm inflicted on boys’ education as qualified teachers — including women — left, and inclusion of regressive curriculum changes as well as an increase in corporal punishment have led to falling attendance.

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INTERNACIONAL

European Union plans to expedite financial aid to Egypt, bypassing usual safeguards

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  • The European Union aims to fast-track up to $1.1 billion in financial aid to Egypt.
  • The EU is using a funding procedure that bypasses parliamentary oversight and other safeguards.
  • The fast-track money would inject much-needed funds into the Egyptian economy, officials say.

The European Union intends to fast-track some of its aid money to Egypt using an urgent funding procedure that bypasses parliamentary oversight and other safeguards, according to the president of the bloc’s executive branch.

The $1.1 billion intended for this is part of a larger package of $8 billion in financial assistance to the North African country that the EU announced on March 17.

Egypt has for years relied on cash handouts, often from wealthy Gulf Arab states, as concerns mount that economic pressure and regional conflicts could drive more migrants from the region to Europe’s shores.

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The EU package includes three year’s worth of grants and favorable loans for the Arab world’s most populous country. Most of the funds — $5.4 billion — are known as macro-financial assistance, or MFA, and would be paid directly to Egypt’s Central Bank.

Egypt president

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, right, talks to European Commission president Ursula Von der Leyen, at the Presidential Palace on March 17, 2024, in Cairo, Egypt. (Egyptian Presidency Media Office via AP)

It’s rare for the EU to sidestep safeguards, but European Parliament elections are due June 6-9 — a timeline that if the checks were implemented, would slow the delivery of that money.

With those polls in mind, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced plans for «an urgent MFA operation for up to 1 billion euros» for Egypt, noting in a letter to EU Parliament President Roberta Metsola the country’s «rapidly deteriorating economic and fiscal situation.»

The letter, seen by The Associated Press, preceded the announcement of the deal with Egypt.

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Von der Leyen blamed «a very large exposure to the economic effects of Russia ’s full-scale war of aggression on Ukraine, the wars in Gaza and Sudan, and the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea,» and said it was «imperative to make sure that a first significant contribution» would get to Egypt by the end of 2024.

To do so, the commission would employ a seldom-used part of the EU treaties, Article 213, which stipulates that the 27 member countries must endorse the funds — but not the parliament, the bloc’s only democratically elected institution.

Not even when COVID-19 spread in 2020 and the EU bailed out governments from the Balkans to the Middle East was this path taken. Nor is it used to keep Ukraine’s war-shattered economy afloat, although Kyiv did benefit from it a decade ago, when Russia annexed Crimea and hiked natural gas prices.

Apart from removing the need for parliamentary oversight, the urgent funding procedure also side-steps a requirement for an impact assessment on the effects of the assistance.

Von der Leyen said the new parliament that will be formed after the EU elections would be «fully involved» for the remaining $4.3 billion of MFAs to Egypt, to be disbursed when Cairo agrees to implement «more comprehensive» reforms.

The deal also includes a $1.9 billion investment plan and $647 million in loans, including at least $217 million that will go to Egypt for «migration management.»

The fast-track money would inject much-needed funds into the Egyptian economy, which has been hit hard by years of government austerity, the coronavirus pandemic, the fallout from Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and most recently, the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

Usually, MFAs are meant for governments with dire economic woes and to encourage them to introduce reforms. Yet the commission acknowledges that Egypt is «sluggish» on policy revision and already has a «backlog of domestic reforms» to address.

Migration is a key factor driving the EU-Egypt deal. As in previous years, it will be an election issue in the EU and mainstream parties want to keep arrivals down to deprive the far-right of campaign fuel.

The deal in Cairo came just weeks after a pact was sealed with Mauritania involving money to help the country — a major transit hub for people moving through Africa toward Europe — beef up border security.

A more substantial agreement was clinched with Tunisia last July, expanding on a model the bloc developed with Turkey in 2015 to stop migrants reaching Europe.

While the Egyptian coast has not been a key launching pad for human traffickers sending overcrowded boats across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe, Egypt faces migratory pressures from the region, with the added looming threat that the Israel-Hamas war could spill across its borders.

The commission, asked by the AP what conditions Egypt should respect to receive urgent funding, said that «relevant and feasible reform priorities would need (to) be selected taking into account the corresponding time horizon.»

The commission’s website says macro-financial assistance must be «exceptional in nature» and that «a pre-condition for granting MFA is the respect of human rights and effective democratic mechanisms.»

Amnesty International has implored the EU to put rights abuses at the center of relations with Egypt — and the commission concedes that «human rights challenges in Egypt remain significant.»

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Still, the EU’s executive branch maintains that «the political leadership in Egypt has taken several steps putting greater emphasis on the importance of the respect for human rights» in recent years.

Earlier this month, Egypt floated its currency and announced a deal with the International Monetary Fund to increase its bailout loan from $3 billion to $8 billion, moving to shore up an economy hit by a staggering shortage of foreign currency and soaring inflation.

Cairo’s coffers will also be replenished with $35 billion from a massive project involving an Emirati consortium to jointly develop the Mediterranean city of Ras el-Hekma.

Since coming to power in 2013, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi has relied heavily on Gulf Arab states, from where an estimated more than $100 billion entered Egypt via Central Bank deposits, fuel aid and other support.

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