Judy: Since reclaiming power in
Afghanistan nearly one year ago,
the Taliban have significantly
rolled back rights for women and
girls.
New rules limit where women can
work, require women to cover
their faces in public, and
prohibit women from traveling
without a male escort.
The extremist government has
also barred hundreds of
thousands of girls from
attending school.
Amna nawaz has more.
Amna: Judy, this week marks 300
days since nearly a million
girls across Afghanistan were
banned from entering their
schools.
Under pressure, the Taliban
government announced in March
that classes would resume, then
reversed their decision,
prompting women and girls to
take to the streets in protest.
This week, conflicting messages
from Taliban officials about if
or when those schools would
reopen showed the government
still has no plan for girls to
return to the classroom.
Joining me now for more on this,
is pashtana Durrani, the
executive director of the
non-profit education group,
learn Afghanistan.
She fled Afghanistan last year
after the Taliban returned to
power, and is now a visiting
fellow at wellesley college's
centers for women.
Welcome back to the newshour.
Good to see you, and has been
300 days since girls were banned
from secondary schools there in
Afghanistan.
What does that mean for all
those girls and what has life
been like?
>> They cannot socialize, they
cannot mobilize.
They are poor and cannot
economically survive.
They cannot go outside, the
girls are depressed, they are
hopeless.
No one is even standing up for
them.
Amna: The Taliban keeps saying
they do intend to reopen those
schools and let the girls back
into the classrooms.
Talk about capacity and
resources and so on.
Do you believe them when they
say they let -- they will let
the girls go back to school?
>> Afghanistan has always been a
poor country and kids have
always gone to school.
Having resources is only limited
when it comes to girls
education.
How come the girls from grade
1-6 are still able to go to the
same schools.
Higher education girls can still
go to school.
I don't think it is about
resources.
Amna: Before you left
Afghanistan, I was part of a
large team that helped you a
badge weight -- evacuate and got
you to the United States.
The organization you are running
on the ground reached 7000
students across the country.
What about today, are you able
to reach any of them now?
>> First I want to thank you for
welcoming me to your family
after last year.
We just have 400 students age 13
to 18, from age -- grade seven
to 12.
All of them are going to school
secretly.
There's nothing else to do.
We cannot wait for the Taliban
to agree on this decision.
We have to continue working and
educating girls.
Amna: These girls are attending
school secretly right now.
Are they worried for their
safety and are you worried for
their safety?
>> Definitely, I am worried
about the fact that what if
somebody follows them?
What if somebody just rates the
school?
It has always been a concern.
What if the Taliban does the
same thing?
They have lost everything.
A student was telling me they
are getting educated in two
different Afghanistan's.
You feel sorry for the fact that
the girls had a better future,
better than ours, but now they
don't.
Amna: You continue to try to get
those girls some kind of
education.
You've seen people take to the
streets in Afghanistan.
What else can other people be
saying or doing right now that
you think would help the
Taliban, to pressure them to
reopen those schools and let the
girls back in the classroom?
>> The international countries
have to stop pleasing the
Taliban and thinking they will
react normally.
That's not how they do.
It's up to the international
community to do the same.
The Taliban are traveling
freely.
Stop them from traveling freely.
If they are not letting girls
get educated, why is that not
being stopped?
All those things need to be the
decision and the international
community needs to act instead
of not making sure they are
doing their part.
Amna: If you could say one thing
to girls out there who are
worried they will never be
allowed back in school, what
would you say?
>> It is our country and we have
the right to exist, to get
educated.
Amna: The executive director of
the education group learn
Afghanistan.
Thank you for your time.