The Taliban ordered the closure of middle and high schools for girls in Afghanistan on Wednesday, just hours after they reopened, a Taliban official confirmed.
“Yes it’s true,” Taliban spokesman Inamullah Samangani told AFP without further comment, confirming reports that the girls had been asked to return home.
An AFP-TV crew was filming a lesson in a class at Zarghona High School for Girls in the capital Kabul on Wednesday morning when a teacher entered and ordered the students to go home.
The latter, who were rejoicing in their return to school for the first time since the Islamic fundamentalists seized power last August, closed their books, packed their things and left the classroom in tears.
The international community has made the right to education for all a stumbling block in negotiations on aid and recognition of the fundamentalist Islamist regime. Several countries and organizations have proposed paying teachers.