A senior Taliban education official has traveled to Russia to attend the Third Global Education Ministers’ Summit, where he is expected to deliver remarks on the state of Afghanistan’s education system, Taliban officials said Tuesday.
Sakhawullah Saeed, deputy minister at the Taliban-controlled Ministry of Education, is leading a delegation to the city of Kazan. The ministry said in a statement that Saeed would present “a detailed speech on the state of Afghanistan’s education system, its opportunities and challenges,” and call on the international community to support its improvement.
The trip comes as the Taliban face mounting criticism at home and abroad over their record on education, particularly their ban on schooling for girls beyond the sixth grade. Civil society activists and former officials have said the Taliban’s policies have devastated the education sector, leaving millions of students—most of them girls—without access to formal learning.
Since regaining control of Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban have shuttered schools for girls in most provinces and drastically curtailed education opportunities for women. According to the United Nations, more than 2.2 million girls are currently out of school in Afghanistan.
“The education system has collapsed under Taliban rule,” said Abdul Ahad Farzam, a civil society activist, in a video statement. “None of the global standards for quality education are being met, especially the principle of non-discrimination on the basis of gender.”
UNESCO reported that as of the current solar year, at least 400,000 girls above sixth grade have been newly pushed out of classrooms.
Students and former officials alike have questioned the Taliban’s participation in international education forums, calling it hypocritical and symbolic at best.
“They speak of development, but they have denied millions of us our most basic right,” said a high school student in Herat, speaking on condition of anonymity for safety reasons.
It has now been more than 1,360 days since the Taliban closed secondary schools to girls. In that time, many female teachers have been dismissed or had their salaries drastically cut, and the regime has increasingly prioritized religious seminaries over formal schooling.
While Taliban officials continue to seek recognition on the international stage, critics say the Taliban’s policies amount to systemic exclusion and long-term harm to Afghanistan’s future.
Despite Taliban claims of seeking global support for education, rights advocates say any meaningful engagement must begin with lifting the ban on girls’ education and restoring equal access for all Afghan students.
