Posted on May 5, 2022
Afghans who want teen girls back in school have new allies: Taliban-affiliated clerics
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https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/05/05/ [login to see] /afghans-who-want-teen-girls-back-in-school-have-new-allies-taliban-affiliated-cl
Girls have pretty much been unable to attend secondary school in Afghanistan since the Taliban took power nine months ago. Public protests – with demonstrators shouting "We are sick of captivity!" – have been shut down by the Taliban.
But now the supporters of secondary education for girls have unexpected new allies: Muslim clerics, including those sympathetic to the Taliban.
"Clerics are coming out and issuing statements and saying girls' education is a right," says Ibraheem Bahiss, an analyst for the International Crisis Group. "They're trying to convince the hardliners that this decision is detrimental."
Those supporting girls education appear to include the powerful interior minister and Taliban deputy leader Sirajuddin Haqqani, the head of the Ministry of Higher Education, Abdul Baqi Haqqani, and Abdul Ghani Baradar, co-founder of the Taliban, says Bahiss. They also include cleric Jalilullah Akhundzada, head of the Dar al-Uloom seminary in the western Afghan city of Herat, who issued a fatwa, or religious ruling, in support of girls' education in March.
Akhunzada was not available to speak to NPR, but his son, known as Mualana Muhibullah, said his father's fatwa was an "expression of truth and reality which needed to be told," he said.
Girls have pretty much been unable to attend secondary school in Afghanistan since the Taliban took power nine months ago. Public protests – with demonstrators shouting "We are sick of captivity!" – have been shut down by the Taliban.
But now the supporters of secondary education for girls have unexpected new allies: Muslim clerics, including those sympathetic to the Taliban.
"Clerics are coming out and issuing statements and saying girls' education is a right," says Ibraheem Bahiss, an analyst for the International Crisis Group. "They're trying to convince the hardliners that this decision is detrimental."
Those supporting girls education appear to include the powerful interior minister and Taliban deputy leader Sirajuddin Haqqani, the head of the Ministry of Higher Education, Abdul Baqi Haqqani, and Abdul Ghani Baradar, co-founder of the Taliban, says Bahiss. They also include cleric Jalilullah Akhundzada, head of the Dar al-Uloom seminary in the western Afghan city of Herat, who issued a fatwa, or religious ruling, in support of girls' education in March.
Akhunzada was not available to speak to NPR, but his son, known as Mualana Muhibullah, said his father's fatwa was an "expression of truth and reality which needed to be told," he said.
Afghans who want teen girls back in school have new allies: Taliban-affiliated clerics
Posted from npr.org
Taliban
Religion
Islam
Afghanistan
Schools
Posted 2 y ago
Responses: 2
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel old habits are hard to break, but I hope they get their freedom to go to school.
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
,,,"As the debate rages on, a spokesman for the Education Ministry, Aziz Ahmad Ryan, says they're waiting for the green light from the Taliban to bring teen girls back to school. "Whenever the leadership of the Islamic Emirate [Taliban] decides, the education ministry is ready to open girls' schools from 7 grade to 12th grade on that day all over Afghanistan."
In some ways, Bahiss said, the fight over girls education is shorthand for a broader tussle between the Taliban's hardliners and – relative – moderates for power within the movement. "This became a battleground," he says.
And it's unclear who will win. "Generally when there's public pressure, the Taliban seem to double down on their decisions. But this time the big difference is this [pushback] is led by the Taliban," he says of the clerics affiliated to the movement. It's unprecedented he says, "and it would be interesting to see if this method is effective in forcing the hardliners to cave in."
,,,"As the debate rages on, a spokesman for the Education Ministry, Aziz Ahmad Ryan, says they're waiting for the green light from the Taliban to bring teen girls back to school. "Whenever the leadership of the Islamic Emirate [Taliban] decides, the education ministry is ready to open girls' schools from 7 grade to 12th grade on that day all over Afghanistan."
In some ways, Bahiss said, the fight over girls education is shorthand for a broader tussle between the Taliban's hardliners and – relative – moderates for power within the movement. "This became a battleground," he says.
And it's unclear who will win. "Generally when there's public pressure, the Taliban seem to double down on their decisions. But this time the big difference is this [pushback] is led by the Taliban," he says of the clerics affiliated to the movement. It's unprecedented he says, "and it would be interesting to see if this method is effective in forcing the hardliners to cave in."
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