Qatar is set to host the Doha Forum on Sunday, December 10, where various issues, including challenges facing girls’ education in Afghanistan, will be discussed.
Simultaneously, the Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies in Doha held a global meeting on Saturday to address the educational challenges of women in Afghanistan. Jointly organized by the foreign ministries of Qatar and Indonesia, the meeting was titled “Education for Her, Progress for All,” aiming to address challenges in the education of Afghan women to be discussed at the Doha Forum.
Women’s rights activists expressed the expectation that these meetings will be practical and extend beyond issuing declarations and resolutions.
The primary objectives of the meeting include examining challenges, garnering global support, facilitating knowledge exchange, and providing recommendations to enhance the education sector, particularly for Afghan women.
Soraya Paikan, a women’s rights activist, emphasized the importance of practical aspects in the meetings, stating, “It is important that such meetings have a practical aspect so that the Taliban accept them. If the Taliban does not accept it, it will only be limited to cooperation and sympathy for its results.”
“We want universities and schools to be opened for all girls. Currently, the future of all girls is unknown, we want to reach a place. All our dreams have been destroyed,” said Muqqadasa, a sixth-grade graduate.
Razia, another sixth-grade graduate, appealed to the international community, stating, “How long will we sit blind, and our fate should be known; we request the international community to put pressure on the Taliban so that we can continue our education.”
The political deputy of the Taliban’s foreign ministry acknowledged on Thursday that preventing the education of girls has caused a greater distance between the people and the Taliban. After seizing power in Afghanistan, the Taliban barred girls above the sixth grade from attending school in September 2021, and on December 20, 2022, they closed the gates of universities to girls and women.
