Taliban minister Stanikzai ‘forced to flee Afghanistan’ after supporting girls’ education

A senior Taliban minister who advocated for lifting the ban on girls’ education in Afghanistan seems to have been forced to flee the country, according to a report.

According to The Guardian report, Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, the Taliban’s deputy foreign minister, spoke out against the government’s ban on girls attending secondary schools and higher education, during a graduation ceremony in Khost province, near the Afghan-Pakistani border, on January 20.

“There is no excuse for this – not now and not in the future,” The Guardian quoted Stanikzai as saying.

“We are being unjust to 20 million people,” he added.

He said that during the time of the prophet Muhammad, the doors of knowledge were open for both men and women.

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“There were such remarkable women that if I were to elaborate on their contributions, it would take a considerable amount of time,” Stanikzai was quoted as saying.

After his speech and reports of his criticisms, the Taliban’s supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada reportedly ordered the minister’s arrest and imposed a travel ban.

This led Stanikzai to flee Afghanistan for the United Arab Emirates, reported The Guardian.

While Stanikzai confirmed to local media that he had traveled to Dubai, he said it was purely for health reasons.

Since the Taliban’s takeover in 2021, the rights of women and girls to education, work, travel, and public appearances have been significantly restricted.

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Last month, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court sought arrest warrants for the Taliban’s supreme leader and Afghanistan’s chief justice, citing their persecution of women and girls in Afghanistan as a crime against humanity.

With inputs from agencies